The mood music
Trevor Foley plays a soulful tune for the current job market , in which employees are the ones choosing the music
’ m often asked how
I people are feeling in the industry and how ‘ others ’ are doing .
The reality right now , as expected , is a big demand from communities wanting to meet . It is fuelling some great ‘ comeback ’ success stories , most notably in rebook volumes . And , of course , human nature means that things quickly get back to ‘ normal ’ with little mask wearing and a lot of handshakes , hugs , and kisses ... This is not , however , the case for all shows , everywhere , notably large-scale international shows where there is a dependence on travel . For the global players , China remains a challenge where it is still not possible to run shows in much of the country .
That said , there is much positivity in almost all quarters with talent recruitment and a growth in infrastructure to match . While there is much positivity right now , the devil is in the detail and there are two key areas of concern . The first being the global economic climate . The level of rebook will give the usual lag effect meaning a delay on the ‘ hit ’ on our industry .
The other issue being widely discussed is that of getting teams back together in offices post-Covid . It certainly seems that smaller companies are not having the same problem as larger organisations in this regard , but it is an issue that is a cause for some concern .
I have largely seen leaders and other senior executives in their offices both throughout the pandemic and since . Yet , a common frustration among CEOs lies in the challenge of getting managers and their show teams back into their offices . There is plenty of data and anecdotal evidence that people and businesses are more productive when teams are together – greater call rates , better outcomes , more creativity , and faster decision-making . In new post-Covid teams , individuals within the same team often don ’ t know each other because they are never in their offices on the same days . This doesn ’ t make for the best teamwork .
The mood music is certainly one of wanting to find a more equitable solution . I ’ m writing this piece having just come into London on a Thursday . Every tube train has been uncomfortably packed , validating , what I ’ m being told by business leaders , that Thursday is the busiest , in fact , often the only busy office day of the week . Other days on the London tube network are much quieter . Many bosses feel that this is making their operations more clunky and less efficient . If managers
Above : Trevor Foley
are not prepared to encourage their teams into the office on a more frequent basis , then this can have a detrimental effect on the pace of show development , launches , driving commerciality and marketing creativity . Not everyone feels this way , but it is a very interesting debate .
Of course , we are very much in a time of an employee market , giving jobseekers the upper hand in this debate . However , while the current mood music is positive , I suspect that we have a year before the next challenge that our industry will face . The global economic downturn will doubtless lead to another round of redundancies and maybe that will be the impetus for a re-balancing in the home versus offices working issue .
For now , let ’ s hope that the Ukraine situation can be resolved sooner rather than later . I say this primarily from a humanitarian stance first and foremost and then from an economic standpoint . Also , a change in attitude in China could equally mitigate the current economic challenges . As we go through the next twelve months , it is a case of ‘ making hay whilst the sun shines ’ and maybe getting teams closer together is an all-important aspect of that . EW
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 4 2022 41