United we stand

By Gill Gibbs, vice chairperson of EXSA

Back in the day, there was a stag that was blind in one eye. This stag always grazed by the sea, so that he could keep a look out for approaching hounds, which he believed to be the only threat to himself. Hence, the stag never bothered to turn his good eye to the sea, so when sailors from a ship came ashore, he failed to notice them, until he was shot with their arrow, fatally wounding him.

We were warned by the relevant experts and soothsayers – did we prepare proficiently? Did we think it would not happen to us? Did we, perhaps arrogantly, assume that we were invincible?

Did we place our head in the sand and turn a blind eye? So now the rug has been pulled from under our feet – literally.

What to do? Where to look to? How do we show up now?

United we stand – and then we actually stand a chance of survival.

There lived a father whose sons constantly quarrelled. The father asked his sons to bring him a bundle of sticks and then he challenged each in turn, to break the bundle over their knees – which, naturally, they found impossible. He then split the bundle and showed how each individual stick could easily be broken. “United you are strong; quarrelling and separated, you are weak.”

While this father was educating and mentoring his offspring, a soldier was tending to his horse very well during the wars and reciprocally, the horse served him well. At the end of the wars, the soldier treated this horse badly, with little food, no shelter and heavy drudging work. War broke out again and the soldier went to use the horse as before, but the wretched beast collapsed, saying that the poor treatment had turned him into an ass, and he would not be restored to a trusty steed in ‘just a moment’. Look after what is of value.

Our industry has incredible value and as stakeholders in this game, standing together and speaking in one, united voice, will ensure our longevity, sustainability and relevance.

Our industry representative body for suppliers, exhibition service providers, venues and agencies, EXSA, has rallied inter-association working groups, oneon-one sessions and has held its first association think tank in the wake of Covid-19 – to communicate, advise, guide and assist as much as possible for all industry role players to find new and creative ways to take on the future.

Foremost, the primary objective is to have our industry recognised as a formal sector, and not one that is part of a sector such as tourism. This will have great benefit for all companies and individuals in our industry as then, we will be recognised by government and corporate business. This will create more structure in our industry and yes, more controls which will then be instituted by governing bodies.

Our industry also cannot be compared or aligned to the live events and sports sector. We have our own unique requirements, value, capability and commodity.

What EXSA cannot do, is to do this alone – Covid-19 is bigger than all of us.

As advocates for environmentallysound, socially-just business practices to help improve and grow the sectors of the industry sustainably and consistently, our value, strength and foundation is borne of just over 40 years of experience, at ground roots level, in the trenches, with a collective mission to create value for industry members to sustain our industry association into the future.

There lies huge strength and safety in numbers, and we call to action all credible and authentic industry role players to take up your position as an EXSA-accredited member, and forge on with us into the new reality.