Our industry ’ s comeback has begun
his year , for sure are , we are having our share of problems to deal with . But , in recent weeks , we have seen the rise of what we may call “ a good problem to have ”.
If you are following UFI on social media , or read our newsletters , you know that for months now we have been updating our global community on key Covid developments – whether it is the German decision to separate tradeshows from mass gatherings , or Australia ’ s A $ 50m industry support programme , or markets reopening .
In recent weeks , we are struggling to keep up – as an ever-growing number of members from all around the world tell us about shows they are running again . Venues reopen and showcase their Covid measures in action at events . Suppliers share the most interesting booth constructions they are working on for shows taking
Kai Hattendorf UFI Managing Director
place . And these updates come from many , many places . Here are some , in no particular order : Luxembourg ! Japan ! Italy ! Korea ! Uruguay ! Germany ! Mexico ! Poland ! France ! Malaysia ! Dubai ! … the list goes on .
Over the summer , we were focusing a lot on the three biggest markets for our industry : China ( open , buzzing with national business at shows ); Germany ( the first 100,000 + visitor show , plus successful regional events ); the US ( hosting smaller shows currently where possible ).
Our market tracker shows that the majority of the markets we are monitoring have reopened , with various levels of regulations in place . We would love to share the news about each and every one of the individual events taking place in all these countries – and we are working on sharing news about as many as possible and the case studies they produce on how to run shows safely in a Covid environment ( let me point you to the dozen mini cases in the recently released 2nd edition of our Good Practices Guide that we produced jointly with our G3 colleagues from AIPC and ICCA , available for free download from the UFI website .
All these shows help us to change the perception , to change the narrative we are still faced with : that tradeshows and business events are a part of the Covid problem .
Instead , we can show that our industry offers a key solution to
governments and authorities – that we bring back the market places and the meeting places for industries to bounce back after Covid . This is part of our key message as an industry . And we have hundreds of thousands of voices to carry this message across to everyone , be it in professional advocating initiatives like ‘ Go LIVE together ’ in the US or the EEIA in Brussels – or be it in private posts , conversations and grassroots initiatives .
Every show we stage , every deal an exhibitor makes , every post an industry professional shares – together , we can overcome the hesitation of people to attend shows ; we are rebuilding our industry ’ s momentum , we prove the role we have to play . We have all the resources available for you on the UFI website if you want to join in ( www . ufi . org / coronavirus ).
This is not a straightforward path – we all know that . Too many in our community are suffering . Good news ( Germany explicitly stating “ attending a tradeshow ” as “ essential travel ”) and bad news ( authorities calling off the Southampton Boat Show in the UK hours before it was set to open ) are around in parallel . Too many industry professionals face an uncertain future right now .
But – and it ’ s the key “ but ” here – the comeback of our industry has already begun . Our global data shows that many exhibitors are just waiting to ramp up their spending as soon as possible and return to the show floors . Those who are able to be at the shows report good to excellent sales , filling their order books well into 2021 and beyond .
Of course , it will take time for our industry to return to where we were in 2019 , and we will adapt more digital (‘ hybrid ’) show elements . 2020 will forever stand as the year that changed our industry . But it will also be the year when , faced with this huge challenge , as an industry we are coming together , working together , to get through this .
10 Issue 5 2020 www . exhibitionworld . co . uk