14 minute read
In An Exclusive Interview To Exhibition Showcase, Bhupinder Singh, CEO, Messe Muenchen India
from Aug 2020
We Are Living In A VUCA World And We Need To Fix Our Relaonship With Uncertainty
In an exclusive interview to Exhibion Showcase, Bhupinder Singh, CEO, Messe Muenchen India shares his insights on the present mes & the road ahead
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“With mulple events being either postponed or cancelled, the impact of COVID-19 on the trade fair industry has been tremendous. As exhibion organisers, we like to plan things way in advance and hence it is not just uncertainty that's impacng us but also our relaonship with the uncertainty. My learning is that we are clearly living in a VUCA (volale, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world and we have to fix our relaonship with uncertainty. Most businesses know how to handle the normal but its mes like this that makes assumpons of the business clear to you, some of our business assumpons are geng challenged now! The impact of the pandemic was felt in all our trade shows in the first quarter of this year. Many of our Italian, European, Asian partners from other countries were unable to parcipate in the trade shows due to the travel restricons. We have also postponed most of our upcoming trade fairs of 2020, a few were also cancelled.”
ES. MM India was one of the first organisaons in the industry to announce work from home. How successful was it in terms of producvity of employees? Bhupinder. We started the Work-From-Home iniave on March 18, 2020, and the whole process was put together swily. I recollect, discussing the possibilies of working from home with my Human Asset Management Team on the morning of 17 th March and simultaneously directed all teams to gear up for this eventuality.
At MM India, the health and safety of our team is our prime concern. Many members of our team travel long distances to get to work and it is imperave for us, to not expose them to any risk. What followed then, was swi execuon of our Business Connuity Plan. Our well laid out IT infrastructure made this transion smooth and allowed for seamless communicaon with each other from day one of WFH. I must admit that the first few days of the lockdown was exacng on most of us, both personally and professionally. The crisis demanded modificaon in our modus operandi and praxis. However, the team rallied together, and I am very happy that despite the extended lockdown, we have kept our team engaged. The Human Asset Management team has organised several town halls to gain feedback on working from home experience. We constantly keep a check on the mental and physical health of our team through mental health surveys and webinars that boost posivity and build
bonds. Prominent speakers, counsellors and doctors have been engaged to strengthen movaon and discuss health and personal issues, if any. We also organise Fun@Work events once a week. MM India has proved, that people can bond efficiently digitally as well. A Play, Learn and Grow Program at the company, gives us a chance to display our talent and keeps the learning wheel turning.
I strongly believe that the lockdown is the best me to invest in training and developing the team. We are all set to roll out online training classes for skill upgradaon during lockdown. As you can see, we have plenty on our plate during the lockdown and we are reinvenng ourselves to face the challenges with agility and speed. Within 10 days of the lockdown, we were hosng eminent speakers from the industry and had a growing audience. Working from home has not restricted us, it has just propelled us to innovate and think out of the box.
ES. How is MM India engaging with its various audiences during these mes? How do you measure its success and what feedback have you received from your audience? Bhupinder. I have no doubt in my mind that exhibion companies need to be even more considerate to their customer's requirements; I believe the ones who will realise this will survive and have a beer chance to thrive moving forward. Companies who only think about themselves with a myopic view will
struggle in the long run! First, safety of everyone is paramount. We can only make posive contribuons to business if we stay healthy and avoid spreading the virus. Business connuity is key. We focus our efforts on staying in touch with our customers every step of the way. Our telecon pipelines are full and we are constantly in touch with our exhibitors and other partners to understand their business challenges and their plan of acon hereon. Through our webinar series, we connected with over 50,000 people in over 30 plus webinars in just 8 weeks, which is special in many ways. We also had the pleasure to host several central ministers at our MM India webinars series. The webinars organized by MM India also provided an excellent plaorm to engage the audience and connect competence from across sectors.
Lastly, to the extent we can, we provide a helping hand to not only each other but also to communies around us, our business partners, and support partners. This is the moment to demonstrate grace under pressure. Many people and companies have been hit harder than Messe Muenchen India. And it is in mes of crisis that heroes are born. In all modesty, we want Messe Muenchen India's values to shine at this difficult hour. So far, we are proud and inspired by the way our company has risen to this challenge - with flexibility, resilience, we have operated with speed and more importantly, with a caring heart. Messe Muenchen India team also contributed part of their salaries to the Maharashtra CM relief fund to support the relief measures.
ES. Some organisers have announced virtual shows. Is MM India working on going virtual anyme in the near future with any of its exisng shows or introducing a new one? Bhupinder. There is immense uncertainty over the commencement of the trade fair industry as well as the expected negave economic impact on the onsite exhibions. In the last 2 months, the Indian market has seen various plug and play soluons providers for virtual expos and many organisers have opted for these soluons for various reasons - to generate some addional revenue, to stay connected with the business community, to keep their staff occupied, etc. Many organisers sll see these soluons from the glasses of short term “stop-gap” arrangement ll the normalcy commences and unl onsite exhibions restart. While there is nothing wrong with the above approach; what must be kept in mind is the exhibitor fague caused due to substandard experience on many of these virtual exhibion plaorms and more importantly the lack of value creaon for the parcipants. If these plaorms only create a scenario where the organiser “takes it all” and leaves exhibitors and visitors dissasfied; this outcome can hurt the brand equity of such exhibions and despite short term gain, may dampen their long term relaonship with their customers.
MM India is always open to tread unexplored territories in order
Quote Box
“I strongly believe that the lockdown is the best time to invest in training and developing the team” “This is the moment to demonstrate grace under pressure. In all modesty, we want MM India's values to shine at this difcult hour” “We have no other option but to look at this crisis as an opportunity”
to enhance the exhibing experience for our stakeholders, exhibitors, and visitors. We are exploring various new avenues that are safe and beneficial for all the pares involved.
ES. What according to you can our industry learn from this crisis? Is the any silver lining in this? Bhupinder. As an industry we have been extremely successful and the fastest-growing markets in the world. But like it or not, “success is a lousy teacher”. It is clear that we may not go back to normal and those who know how to shape the new normal will stand to benefit from it. We are entering a new norm that redefines the way we look at businesses and alliances and only those who are brave enough to embrace this, will benefit from it. As Winston Churchill said “Never waste a good crisis”, we have no other opon but to look at this crisis as an opportunity. It's here to teach all of us important lessons, make us wiser and sharper. Every crisis has its learning. This crisis has coerced us to push the envelope and to explore new avenues. The lockdown period has also made us aware of the true potenal of digitalizaon. Working remotely has also given many of us me to enhance our skill-set through online courses. We might see in the future that the number of employees, the miles they commute, the public transport they use are all contributors to environmental concerns. This might trigger a paradigm shi to connue with paral “work from home” teams in the future. The lockdown also taught us that we need to think about conscious consumpon and not compulsive buying.
ES. As the Hon Secretary of IEIA and as a leading organiser, what is your message to the industry? Bhupinder. IEIA with the support of all industry stakeholders has played a vital role in further underlining the importance of exhibions as growth engines for the Indian economy. Looking at post COVID 19 mes, IEIA has conducted several forums, invited various central ministers to engage and highlighted that in light of the lockdown and the economic slump, exhibions can prove to be an effecve tool for economic recovery.
As Indian exhibion industry paently awaits to make its contribuon to reinvigorate the economy, missing a menon in Unlock 3 “sectors” was indeed a setback for the whole industry
as the industry was thoroughly prepared with a stringent standard operang procedures (SOPs) and guidelines to offer a “safe exhibion experience”. The ill effects of a prolonged gap in learning, innovaon and interacon can limit our spirit to be the leading economic force in Asia as Atmanirbhar Bharat. Our industry has immense potenal to bring back investments to our country. We have seen big investments made by UK, Korean and German companies in India over the past few years. An average of 15% of parcipant in most exhibions are internaonal.
This is the message that needs to be even more consistently and effecvely amplified today to the government!!! IEIA is geared up to drive the next wave of awareness campaign unl this message is heard and supported. ES. As the leading exhibion organiser, what are your most pernent issues and concerns right now? Bhupinder. As a trade fair organizer, our prime concern is the health and safety of everyone involved in our trade shows. Secondly like all the other industry friends, we seek to get back to business as early as possible. However, at mes of economic difficules such as these, it's even more crucial to constantly stay aligned with what the industry needs. If the industry needs a trade fair we will do our best to provide an even beer ROI to the parcipants. But if our exhibitors, stakeholders, partners do not share the enthusiasm or are not in the shape to accept a trade fair; I think the we all need to respect that. Having said that, we are working with several partners to ensure and design trade fairs that enable a safe exhibing experience for everyone at the fairground. MM India will strictly follow government direcves and take addional safety measures as well to facilitate a safe and lucrave environment to conduct business.
ES. MM India recorded a very good 2019. Can you give the industry some insights about how MM India performed in 2019? Bhupinder. 2019 has been an incredible learning journey for Messe Muenchen India. Our resilience and pursuit of excellence were rewarded with outstanding outcomes and double digit growth. This growth in numbers tesfy and reinstate that our approach towards business is in the right direcon and that we will connue to work towards enhancing visitor and exhibitor's return on investments. With the acquision of leading shows like air cargo India and air cargo Africa, new tech shows like MatDispens, VRTech India, and shows that complement our exisng porolio like World Tea & Coffee Expo and PackMach Asia Expo during the year, we further augment our porolio of trade fairs.
With this growth and posive developments, we needed a beer work space, so, in 2019 Messe Muenchen India relocated itself to a new office with beer amenies and smarter spaces to keep pace with the company's growing needs. As a part of its expansion strategy, Messe Muenchen India established a new sales office in Ahmedabad to efficiently and closely cater to the clients in the state. Last year, has movated us to achieve unprecedented benchmarks. Looking ahead, we aim to design even more effectual trade fairs that foster numerous business opportunies for our stakeholders, exhibitors and visitors.
Messe Muenchen India Brand Porolio
Bonding Solutions for Industry
Delhi
Exhibion Showcase Talks To Karla Juegel, Founder & CEO of Messe | Markeng, Germany
“The most important milestone is: my 40 years of experience in an industry that I loved at first sight. Since many years I am a Consultant, Coach & Trainer for the Exhibion Industry worldwide combining strategical markeng with operave exhibion know-how as founder & CEO of Messe | Markeng. But my career started in the late 70th as markeng conceponeer when I laid the basis to recognise trade-fair parcipaons as markeng instrument within corporate communicaons. This was a milestone, which brought me to MercedesBenz, being the first woman responsible for the Automobil-Shows around the world. And shortly aer I became head of the internaonal fair & exhibion department of the newly found Aviaon & Space Company ‘Deutsche Aerospace’, today’s Airbus. As my heart is sll beang for the exhibitors in our industry, I designed a variety of seminars & trainings to make trade fair parcipaons more successful and to turn Contacts into Cont(r)acts. I believe that the Exhibitor’s success is driving the success of the complete Exhibion Industry. And the support of them - the heart beat.”
ES. What can be the recovery guide for exhibions? Karla. I believe in Trade Fairs as motor for the economy, especially in crisis mes. Personal encounters and live-experiences will always be the basis for business in regard to build-up trust and reliability.
ES. What do you see the roadmap ahead for exhibion industry? Karla. In the future trade fairs should take over an addional task in the way that they mutate from a market-place to a marketinsider by offering tailor-made matchmaking for their customers ‘exhibitors’ & ‘visitors’ and even more by delivering up-to-date industry informaon 365 days around the year.
ES. What is your take on Virtual exhibions? Karla. Live is live. Face-to face communicaon and digitalisaon: this is a total discrepancy. It does not fit. Live-communicaon is based on personal encounters and that makes trade fairs around the world so unique. Although digitalisaon shows us at the moment, that a lot is possible. And it is possible very well. But we also learned, that best virtual soluons are as expensive as Fairs & Exhibions - but sll cannot gain the uniqueness of live-events.
ES. Please share with us your personal assessment of the situaon Karla. In the long run I see a lot of consolidaons and less variety in compeon which might on one hand strengthen the market but on the other hand also weaken it.
ES. How badly has your region been affected? What has been the impact of this pandemic on your domesc industry? Karla. The affect of the exhibion industry in Germany can only be judged completely at the end of the pandemic which is closely connected to the launch of a vaccine. At the moment Germany is in a fairly good posion in regard to the number of infecons. But the situaon within the exhibion & event industry is sll drascally endangered. The only light in the tunnel is the decision of the German Government not to rate ‘Trade Fairs’ as large events like concerts, sport-events, etc. and to allow reopening of trade fairs aer the summer vacaons.
ES. What will be the future of business tourism? Karla. There will be a paradigm change in the mind of business travellers mostly based on sustainability and its importance to the word. But nevertheless as personal encounters are part of the human nature, mobility will be as well.
ES. Your message to the industry? Karla. To learn also means to unlearn!