Guest Comment: Stuart Hunter
Together Never Felt So Good
‘T
ogether never felt so good,’ the creative strap line that has been deployed in support of ICE London 2022, has never felt so appropriate as it does now, penning this column less than two weeks before the world’s favourite gaming show returns to ExCeL London. Two extremely long years (26 months to be more accurate) have passed since the last edition of ICE London closed its doors and bade farewell to the global legions of buyers who made their way back from London to reunite with loved ones and rejoin colleagues working in businesses located throughout the world. No one could have predicted what was to follow. A global pandemic that paralysed the entire world, followed by the gut-wrenching and appalling events that we witness unfolding in Ukraine. Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine, not least those industry personalities and companies that cannot be with us. Reflecting on where the industry is two years down the line, it is clear how much impact Covid has had on the land-based sector – in many countries the first to be forced to close and the last to be permitted to open. The return of in-person events could not have occurred soon enough. There’s something really positive about being able to sit down with colleagues, to share a drink or a meal and to talk face-to-face about opportunities, solutions, collaborations, and what the industry does in order to rehabilitate and recover. Of course it’s possible to use video conferencing as a method of keeping updated but, as a good as the technology is – and where would we have been without it? – it can only achieve so much. This is a people industry and people-based sectors thrive on the oxygen of social interaction. Data from the events industry confirms that every returning exhibition has come back in the region of 6
Stuart Hunter, Managing Director, Clarion Gaming
30 percent smaller than its pre-pandemic version. Certainly visitors will be a part of a different version of
ICE London but still one that delivers an outstanding experience. ICE has always set the tone for the year ahead and the stands at ExCeL London will be brimming with the many hundreds of new products and services being launched in London, and that have the potential to transform the industry. My aspiration is for our customers – visitors and exhibitors – to rediscover why they hold ICE and the co-located iGB brand in such high esteem, and to leave ExCeL London in a positive, upbeat and confident mood, equipped with all of the ideas, energy, imagination and determination to put the last two years behind them, and plan for a prosperous future. ICE London remains the event where ideas are formed, new strategies formulated and where the future is written. I look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be an historic edition of ICE London. To register: www.icelondon.uk.com www.casinolifemagazine.com
