Expanding the Tent

As AFCI and NAMTA prepare to present their first collocated trade show, we spoke to AFCI Executive Director Peter Finn about his expectations for the show and the future of the industries.

AMR: A collocated tradeshow of these two creative products associations was a long time coming. Why did it seem to make sense this year?

Peter Finn: I think this happened in part because NAMTA’s Executive Director Leah Siffringer and I had an initial meeting in 2019 about future opportunities. It was clear from the beginning that we both saw a lot of upside for our members and the broader community to pull together a collocated conference and show. Due to the restrictions around in-person meetings in 2020 and 2021, the opportunity presented itself for us to collocate virtually – essentially accelerating our plan to collocate Creativation and Art Materials World.

How many AFCI-member exhibitors do you expect to have? How about buyers? How will you measure attendance?

Our goal for the virtual conference and show, Creativation+ featuring Art Materials World, is to have more than 100 exhibitors and more than 750 attendees – many of them buyers.

What kind of feedback are you getting about the collocation? Do you expect there will be a lot of interest in the other industry’s products?

Great feedback thus far and, yes, I think part of the advantage in the collocation is that buyers are exposed to a greater catalog of products and connections. Our goal was to present our members with a greater variety of products, and in partnership with Namta, expand the tent.

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What kind of feedback are you getting on the virtual nature of the show? What kinds of bells and whistles will they experience? Will there be a place for this virtual experience post-pandemic?

Great questions. This is a total paradigm shift for our members and attendees. Typically, the Creativation conference and tradeshow is very much a touch and feel type experience, so to go virtual makes it hard to replicate that kind of tangible quality. That said, we have encouraged exhibitors to distribute products to attendees ahead of Creativation +. The bells and whistles of the virtual meeting platform that we think will appeal most are the AIpowered matchmaking, interactive booth capabilities with video and chat, 30 hours of education, and 50 hours of on-demand content following the virtual event. We are hosting the event on a virtual platform that is pretty dynamic and is being used by a number of largerscale events, including SXSW. I do think virtual is here to stay, but never as a replacement Chavant, Inc. manufactures a wide variety of professional grade, oil / wax based, for in-person meetings. I think we sculpting plastelines, industrial styling clays and high quality modeling tools. will see more hybrid or blended Please order our sample kit and evaluate these distinctive products. meetings in the future – where

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Does this event reflect a changing product mix on craft store shelves? On art-materials store shelves? A further blurring of the line between traditional art and craft?

I do see that there is more and more crossover for the end consumer or prosumer, so the retailer needs to make sure that this is reflected on the brick and mortar shelves and/or e-commerce “shelves.”

Has the consumer of craft products changed in the past five years? If so, how?

I believe today’s consumers are very savvy and discerning. They can drive a lot of innovation in new products and have become in some ways a marketing asset for so many suppliers and manufacturers. Many crafters use a variety of social media channels and platforms like Etsy to showcase their creativity and connect with others with the same passion. In many ways, the creative community has never been stronger.

Do you think the number of creative consumers has grown during the pandemic? What does that mean for AFCI in the future?

With many people wary of travel, and at home more than ever, the demand for craft and artistic supplies has grown exponentially. We know that this has created supply chain challenges for some manufacturers due to the sheer demand.

Speaking anecdotally, I see this with my wife who has returned to painting (after many years). I’m continually impressed with what she’s painted over the last year. Certainly a silver lining to what we’ve experienced for almost a year.

As for the future of the association, I believe that as the creative industries evolve, so must AFCI. The traditional tradeshow format may not have the same value proposition it once had, and the future of Creativation will likely be more of a mix of traditional elements – like order writing – along with a dynamic space for the full ecosystem (e.g., suppliers, retailers, educators, makers, and influencers) of the creative industries to connect, learn, be creative, and celebrate.

The virtual tradeshow begins Monday, March 15 and ends Friday afternoon, March 19. It kicks off at 10 a.m. CST with the keynote, “Agile Organizations Thrive During Turbulent Times,” presented by HR strategist Joe Rotella. The exhibit hall “opens” Monday at noon – there were 75 exhibitors as of February 5. To register, visit namta.org or creativeindustries.org. In 2022, the two associations will combine for an in-person show from Sunday, April 10 through Tuesday, April 12 in Orlando.