ometimes , even when

So , Eric Everard , CEO and founder of Easyfairs may be sitting in a pretty good position right now . “ If you now look at the crisis ,” he says , “ and who could resist better or rebound faster , we can say that , probably , national shows that are not too expensive , with a strong digital base , might rebound quickly .” That ’ s a pretty clear description of the Easyfairs business model and Everard says , “ that ’ s what we see since 1 September in our business where we are back ”. The company has run 30 shows in Europe since that date and , he says , business was back roughly to 100 % if that period is compared to 2019 . “ So , yes ”, he says , “ the character , the intrinsic characteristics of Easyfairs will probably help us in these tough times ”.

But , it ’ s clearly not all going to be plain sailing . Everard is concerned about the flare up of Covid cases across western Europe which threatens tougher restrictions in a number of markets . “ It ’ s going to be bumpy for probably a relatively long term ,” he believes . “ I ’ m not a strong believer that the situation

will be over within weeks or months , I fear it ’ s going to last longer ”. Two months prior to our mid-November discussion , Everard says he would have said it ’ s over in Europe and that you could do shows everywhere . He is concerned now , however , that within weeks , even days , “ we might hear that some countries are closing again in Europe , which of course would generate a situation that is becoming highly insecure for the entire industry ”.

Given that ‘ health warning ’ about the months to come , we dug a little deeper into that ‘ DNA ’ of Easyfairs that Everard believes puts it in such a strong position . It ’ s a simple , three legged strategy . Firstly , there is the affordability factor . “ The average price that an exhibitor pays to us , including stand construction , is € 7,000 ( US $ 7,900 ). That ’ s the cost of his participation .” He looks at this as keeping down the risk for companies to participate in an event . “ It ’ s cost effective for the exhibitor ,” Everard says .

The second key characteristic of the Easyfairs strategy is the regional focus . “ We do national or regional shows ,” Everard says , “ and when we say regional it is because we believe the industry is regional ”. The company has also added a number of national shows to its portfolio and he notes that that these “ are not small at all . But they are vertical , targeted and national ”.

Above : Eric Everard

Finally , there is the digital strategy . Like everyone else , Easyfairs moved quickly to experiment with digital events when the real world ones were closed down . They organised 150 over the last two years . There has been some success with more content-driven events but , Everard is clear on what has not worked . “ It ’ s very difficult to have any efficient transactional or networking events ,” he says . “ That was the lesson and this is probably why the rebound of our business was so strong .” He speaks of online fatigue “ where people were fed up with all those Zoom meetings and they wanted to meet physically again , touch , taste product , have a glass to network ”. There is , he says , “ an energy in the room you can never have online ”. ►