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M I C E Showcase
& PSU BUZZ
Dear Readers,
The month of September is also approaching to a close. All our hopes to get a re-start date from the government of India are sll hanging to the bait. With most of the industries geng back to acon, the events and exhibions industry is sll unable to aract any aenon of the policy makers. Despite having many industry associaons in the MICE sector, the voice of our sector is not reaching the government (In-spite of the SOPs and framework, which have been developed and even submied to the government).
Nevertheless, being industry media, we have been striving earnestly to keep the industry engaged and informed during these difficult mes. The recently concluded IMS2.0 was a sincere iniave to reflect the strength and voice of our industry and to showcase our sector's preparedness to open up effecvely. The event concluded successfully with 1120 aendees joining during the course of two days from 52 countries! 14 power packed sessions featured over 95 global speakers who gave their valuable insights about issues most pernent to the future of our industry. Recordings of all the sessions are now available on demand on the Exhibion Showcase's official YouTube channel. In all the interacons with global peers, one thing that everyone accepted is that there is no substute to physical shows while it will be important to embrace technology going forward. There will also be a need to impart new age skills to our workforce with focused impetus on digitalizaon, innovaon and sustainability. To inspire the industry, we are coming back on 5 th December, 2020 with the 5 th annual edion of Exhibion Excellence Awards and co-located Global MICE Icons awards ceremony. This is a mega iniave to recognize the achievements of the MICE industry and inspire them to stay commied and reach for greater heights in 2021.
On another posive development for the industry, the CARAVAN SALON (world's largest RV trade show) which concluded on 6 th September at the Düsseldorf Exhibion Centre, Germany, drew 107,000 mobile travel and leisure enthusiasts to the event's 59 th edion. Spanning 762,000 square feet, the show was the first major trade fair to take place in the western German city since the COVID-19 lockdown. Though the show was notably smaller than it was in 2019 — when 268,000 aendees and 645 exhibitors spanned 2.3 million square feet of indoor and outdoor expo space — Messe Düsseldorf officials sll lauded the show as a success for the German and European trade fair industry. We hope to share many such developments more regularly!
Do read this insighul issue to get interesng updates from the world of business events and exhibions. We have featured some informave interviews, news and arcles and as always, I would love to hear your feedback on raghav@exhibionshowcase.com.
Stay safe and happy reading!
Netherlands
44th & 45th Dogshow Maastricht 2020 is a fact! In mes of Covid, the Maastricht Dog Show, one of the biggest in Netherlands managed to deliver a safe and secure show welcoming almost all dog races at Maastricht Exhibion Center. The first dog show in the Netherlands aer last six months, the organiser successfully delivered coronaproof show providing enough distance for all, bigger rings and less dogs in a ring together and also fixing me slot for exhibitors to avoid crowd.
U.S.A
PCMA Foundaon has launched the Accelerang Reskilling iniave, a massive fundraising campaign designed to help event industry professionals recover, adapt and thrive through the pandemic and beyond. Launched on Aug. 5, the campaign’s goal is to raise $250,000 by the end of 2020 to provide scholarships for the immediate reskilling of 1,000 event professionals, supplier professionals, young professionals, faculty and current students with the new and updated skill sets they will need for career recovery and success.
South Africa
The Durban ICC has always aimed to posion itself as “Africa’s Leading Convenon Centre” but during this unprecedented global situaon, the centre has been focusing on the development of their high-tech Virtual Event soluons. Having invested in the latest, cung-edge meeng technology, the centre is re-invenng itself as the connent’s leading high-tech convenon centre.
United Kingdom
Greater Manchester’s vision for the environment, and next steps in achieving carbon neutrality will be on the agenda at the Green Summit 2020. Taking place fully online from 21st to 24th September, the Greater Manchester Green Summit 2020 will detail progress made toward the Five-Year Environment Plan. Goals of which include becoming carbon neutral by 2038, improving air quality in the next decade, protecng our natural environment, and building resilience to the effects of climate change.
Korea
Busan is an internaonal convenon city that is receiving aenon worldwide. The city boasts customized venues in various sizes that suit the needs of meeng planners as well as the administrave and financial support systems needed to host successful events. In other words, Busan is an ideal city for hosng internaonal convenons and is capable of accommodang all sorts of MICE events without any issues.
India
In a posive development for the industry, India gets ready to host the 13th edion of Aero India-21, at Air Force Staon, Yelahanka, Bengaluru, Karnataka from Feb 2-7th 2021. Giving the go ahead for the space-booking of the physical show, the defence minister Rajnath Singh launched the A e ro I n d i a 2 0 2 1 w e b s i t e aeroindia.gov.in.
Dubai
In honour of the 90th Saudi Naonal Day on 23rd September, Expo 2020 Dubai is celebrang the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s "significant" contribuon to the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, MEASA, region, and the largest event ever to be held in the Arab world. The World Expo provides the ideal plaorm for the Kingdom to share its heritage and the creavity of its young, dynamic populaon to a global audience. With more than 190 parcipang countries, Expo 2020 is also an opportunity to convene the internaonal community in a spirit of hope and opmism, and Saudi Arabia will play an important role in innovang and collaborang with the world to help shape a beer future for all.
Australia
Given the massive tourist inflow into Australia over the recent years, 2020 was expected to be a superlave year for travel. Travel enthusiasts had their wish-lists chalked out, the tourism industry was raring to go; Several major on-ground events like the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia were also scheduled to take place this year. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought this to a halt. On the occasion of World Tourism Day, desnaon Australia keeping in mind the varied sights, sounds and experiences that travellers look forward to, developed a host of diverse virtual experiences to enable people to connue exploring the offerings of this desnaon, virtually!
India Carpet Expo is one of the larges Handmade Carpet Fair in Asia which t serves as a unique plaorm for the buyers to source the best of handmade carpets, rugs and other floor coverings under one roof. It is held bi-annually with a view to showcase the Cultural Heritage of Indian Handmade Carpets & Other Floor Coverings and Promote the Weaving Skills of Indian Weavers to the vising overseas carpet buyers. Carpet Export Promoon Council launched its first Virtual Exhibion for 5 days – 40th INDIA CARPET EXPO – VIRTUAL EXHIBITION from 21st to 25th August, 2020 to cater to the demand of the Indian Handmade Carpets in emerging economies post pandemic.
The 1st Virtual Edion of 40th India Carpet Expo, an exclusive trade fair for Handmade carpets and other floorcoverings, organized by Carpet Export Promoon Council, was inaugurated by Smt. Smri Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Texles and Women & Child Development through Video Conferencing in the presence of Shri Shantmanu, IAS, Development Commissioner (Handicras). Shri Siddh Nath Singh, Chairman, CEPC, Shri Umer Hameed, 2nd Vice-Chairman, CEPC, Shri Umesh Kumar Gupta, Shri Abdul Rub, Shri Rajendra Prasad Mishra, Shri Onkar Nath Mishra, Shri Feroze Waziri, Shri Husain Jafar Husaini, Mohd. Wasif Ansari, Shri Shree Ram Maurya, Shri Sanjay Gupta, Shri Bodh Raj Malhotra, Shri Sandeep Kataria, Shri Sash Waal, Members COA were also present in the inauguraon alongwith the Parcipants and Guests.
Smt. Smiri Zubin Irani in her address appreciated the efforts of the Carpet Export Promoon Council in organizing 1st Virtual Edion of India Carpet Expo in the pandemic of COVID-19 and congratulated Shri Siddh Nath Singh and Commiee Members for their efforts and menoned that “Koshis Karna Walo ki Kabhi Har Nahi Ho” and industry is following the vision of Hon'ble Prime Minister “Sab ka Sath Sabka Vikas”. Minister assured full support from her Ministry to the Council for the growth of the industry.
This Virtual Edion is the 1st iniave to bridge the gap between Indian products and demand of Handmade Carpets and floor coverings across the globe in post pandemic era. The Expo is organized under the aegis of Govt. of India with an aim to promote the Cultural Heritage and weaving skills of Indian hand-made Carpets and other floor coverings
amongst the overseas carpet buyers.
Shri Siddh Nath Singh, Chairman, CEPC in his address menoned that in the COVID19 Scenario travelling is not possible both for our Exporters and Overseas Buyers and hence this Virtual Edion of India Carpet Expo is an ideal plaorm for Internaonal Carpet Buyers, Buying houses, buying Agents, Architects and Indian Carpet Manufacturers & Exporters to meet virtually and establish long term business relaonship.
This exhibion is a crucial step towards taking Indian exports of Handmade carpet to much greater and newer heights. Shri Singh further added that there are tremendous business opportunies for parcipang manufacturers and exporters as various prominent buyers of Handmade Carpets from all over the world will be aending the show and orders worth over thousand crores are expected to be executed in near future. It is the endeavor of the council to provide exclusive business environment to the both carpet importers as well as manufacturerexporters, which ulmately will benefit over 20 lakhs weavers and arsans employed in this highly labour intensive rural based MSME coage industry.
ICPB To Hold 13th CIC As A Hybrid Event On October 30 – 31, 2020
With the support of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, ICPB has announced its flagship event, the 13th Convenons India Conclave (CIC) – as a hybrid event with the theme – ‘Physical & Digital Meengs – A Harmonious Blend’, to be held on 30 – 31 October 2020 to promote India as a Safe and Aracve MICE desnaon, post COVID19.
This year when the COVID19 crisis has disrupted the meengs industry, with the need for social distancing and other safety protocols, ICPB with the support of members and Industry, is using these challenging mes to demonstrate the resilience of the industry in hosng the 13th CIC as a ‘Hybrid Event ‘. At present, due to restricons in the number of parcipants permissible, 100 aendees will be parcipang at the event in person and about 800 parcipants are expected to parcipate virtually including 100-150 potenal buyers, exhibitors, stakeholders of the MICE industry, tourism students, government officials, industry colleagues
etc. for networking, updang and forging new alliances to kickstart MICE business post the pandemic crisis.
Amaresh Tiwari, Vice Chairman - ICPB and Convenon Chairman says, “The MICE Industry in India is slowly and steadily gaining momentum. As the apex body of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, we at ICPB have to set an example and be at the forefront of geng the events industry back on its feet. The venue partner for the hybrid event is JW Marrio Aerocity, New Delhi which will host the event showcasing their world class MICE facilies, applying all safety protocols in compliance with govt. guidelines. Government of Gujarat is Supporng State Partner for the Conclave. We have received posive response from the industry as people are now eager to cauously return to the MICE arena. Challenging mes call for innovave approach and with this hybrid-event we are seng an example for others to follow.” Mr. Ori Lahav, President – IAPCO will deliver the Keynote Address on the theme - Physical & Digital Meengs – A Harmonious Blend, which will set the tone for the 2 days events. Interesng sessions/panel discussions and parallel sessions will be insighul and provide perspecves of eminent speakers of the industry.
“This year, keeping the unique format of the Conclave in mind, the focus of CIC will be knowledge exchange. We are fortunate to have Mr. Ori as the keynote speaker and ICCA has also agreed to partner with us for the 13th CIC. In addion to this, there will be dedicated sessions for students pursuing MICE as a career, which is something that is happening for the very first me,” says Mr. Girish Kwatra, Hony. Secretary, ICPB.
More than 800 aendees will parcipate on the virtual plaorm for a delighul digital experience. Prescheduled meengs with the buyers and exhibitors will be on virtual plaorm providing opportunity for business networking.
Visa And Singapore Tourism Board Ink Three-Year Partnership To Support Local Tourism & Lifestyle
Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, has signed a three year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to address the needs of Singapore’s tourism and lifestyle small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) impacted by COVID-19. The STB-Visa collaboraon focuses on two strategic areas to revive the local tourism industry – joint research and analycs and markeng partnerships. As internaonal travel gradually resumes, both organisaons will scale up their partnership to include joint internaonal markeng, powered by data and insights derived from their combined research. The aim is to develop markeng strategies and iniaves to help Singapore businesses capture demand once global travel resumes.
Joint research and analycs
STB and Visa will combine proprietary data, as well as research and analycal capabilies, to derive insights on how COVID-19 has changed domesc and internaonal consumer behaviour. These insights will help idenfy new trends and untapped opportunies, which will be shared with local SMEs to develop their own data-driven campaigns and iniaves that are in tune with the new environment.
To kickstart the data and research collaboraon, STB and Visa have produced a report to provide insights for local SMEs called Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism in Singapore and the Road to Recovery and Transformaon*, the report found that local brands are worst hit by the pandemic, experiencing double-digit negave growth. The lack of an online presence has also le local brands more vulnerable to the adverse economic impact of the pandemic, especially those located in tourism precincts**. In the next phase of their data and research collaboraon, STB and Visa will focus on the impact of
COVID-19 on business travel. Singapore is one of the world’s leading business travel desnaons, and business visitors represent the country’s highest yielding segment. An in-depth study to idenfy changing behaviours, new trends and growth opportunies will sharpen Singapore’s compeve edge as a global business desnaon. Insights from the study will also guide future campaigns to capture inbound business tourism spend and help local SMEs recover.
Joint markeng partnerships
In the first phase of their markeng partnership, STB and Visa will develop a domesc markeng campaign to raise awareness of local SMEs, while driving domesc consumpon through Visa cardholder promoons. In the second phase when internaonal travel resumes, both organisaons will launch internaonal markeng campaigns to increase awareness of local brands and experiences in Singapore.
To launch the first phase in October 2020, both organisaons will harness the synergies of their respecve campaigns – #SingapoRediscovers and #WhereYouShopMaers – to encourage Singaporeans to shop at local retailers and support the domesc economy. SingapoRediscovers, a joint campaign launched in July by STB, Enterprise Singapore and Sentosa Development Corporaon, supports local lifestyle and tourism business by encouraging locals to uncover hidden gems, stories and experiences in Singapore. WhereYouShopMaers was introduced in August by Visa to encourage consumers to support local SMEs, while helping SMEs digitalise to adapt, sustain and thrive in a COVID-19 environment.
In the coming months, STB and Visa will introduce joint promoons and offers to encourage locals to rediscover Singapore and support local SMEs. The campaigns will be centred on three key themes: Escape, Feast and Shop, to boost spending at hotels, aracons, food and beverage outlets, and other local retailers. STB and Visa will also profile homegrown brands and business owners through inspiring content that highlights their aspiraons, passions and adaptability. This includes showcasing how SMEs can adopt ecommerce and technology such as contactless payments to beer engage consumers and meet their evolving needs. For the second phase which focuses on internaonal markeng, experiences in Singapore such as shopping, dining, sightseeing, events and entertainment will be promoted through content creaon, promoons and tourist privileges.
These campaigns will be rolled out in phases in key countries based on the respecve market’s readiness to travel. STB and Visa will also testbed iniaves to drive incremental spending through cross border e-commerce and harness new opportunies for local tourism and lifestyle SMEs.“Local tourism and lifestyle businesses contribute significantly to the vibrancy of a city like Singapore. STB and Visa both want to help such businesses to survive and succeed in the new environment. We recognise that many of them, especially the smaller and mediumsized ones, are especially vulnerable. We hope to help them develop new digital capabilies and transform their businesses. Through our partnership with Visa, we also aim to give local businesses a much needed boost through domesc spending,” said STB Chief Execuve Keith Tan.
LMIFW Gets First-Ever Phygital Avatar
Taking the plunge, the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), presents the first-ever phygital, Lotus Make-up India Fashion Week, spring-summer 2021, with DLF Emporio/The Chanakya as the luxury partner. It is scheduled from October 14- 18, 2020. The FDCI, has made a robust blueprint for the future, this includes a studio set up with screens and bespoke lighng, where designers are shoong
ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA is pivong to an November 2020. It's called ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA ON and it's the place where Asia's fresh produce business meets online. It will give thousands of exhibitors connect, do business and to connue to grow their business in Asia this season. “ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA ON has arisen out Will Wollbold commercial director of ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA. “Especially aer the past months, you will know that there's a soluon for every problem in business, and ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA ON is our soluon for you to achieve your business goals in Asia. It has become clear now their fashion films/videos. Alternavely,
they can also shoot their own films. These pre-shot films, will be streamed across various FDCI digital plaorms - Instagram, Facebook, Twier, YouTube and the FDCI website.
These will play according to a preset show schedule. The impressive list of the showcasing designers include Varun Bahl, Tarun Tahiliani, Suneet Varma, Shivan & Narresh, Shantanu & Nikhil, Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna, Rina Dhaka, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Payal Jain, Nin Bal Chauhan, Namrata Joshipura, Geisha Designs, Dhi, Ashish Soni, Abhishek Gupta among many others. In keeping with the ethos, an online 'Designer Showroom', is being created, a dedicated space, where designers can upload their lookbooks and place orders, with their domesc and that we can't host our physical event in Singapore in November, so we're working hard with a specialist soware company based in Asia to develop ASIA FRUIT Andrew Phua, Execuve Director, Exhibions and Conferences, Singapore Tourism Board, adds: “ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA connues to be a valued partner for Singapore, and we are proud that they have teamed up with a leading Singapore tech company to build their digital event. This demonstrates the full range of innovave soluons that Singapore has to offer to the MICE industry, as we reimagine what safe and high quality business events could look together in Asia this year too,” explains we've worked very hard with our expo world borders are closed and business travel is very difficult. So ASIA FRUIT internaonal buyers, through virtual meengs. This year, there are many new addions, observing the success of the online edion of Designer Stockroom, the FDCI will open this B2C plaorm once again, for parcipang designers, aer fashion week.
“We have 40 established and young designers, who are a part of this phygital showcase. This edion of the LMIFW is going to be evenul, as we have adapted to new technology. We are happy to have Lotus Make Up connue their partnership and welcome DLF Emporio/The Chanakya as our new collaborator, on board,” said FDCI
ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA Is On This November
excing new digital format in and visitors the best plaorm for them to
of the of COVID-19 challenge,” explains LOGISTICA ON as a digital alternave.” like.”
“It's important buyers and sellers come Wollbold. “Of course, we're disappointed, partners in Singapore, but all over the Chairman, Sunil Sethi LOGISTICA ON is our response to these challenges. It's in the very best interests of every single exhibitor and trade visitor at ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA.”
ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA ON is all about bringing buyers and sellers together. This is a meeng place online that uses the latest soware for business matchmaking and meeng scheduling. In short, it finds you the most suitable contacts for your business, and then helps you to schedule formal business meengs at the me you want to have them during the core trade show days 18-20 November 2020. In addion ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA is working with its partners at FRUITNET MEDIA INTERNATIONAL to host a full programme of online conferences, seminars, and workshops that begin in October and take place during ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA ON's show days. It includes ASIAFRUIT CONGRESS ON, an online format of Asia's longest running and most successful conference event for Asia's fresh produce decision makers.
Refcold India 2020 Edion – Goes Virtual
REFCOLD INDIA – GOES VIRTUAL, 2020 EDITION, South Asia's largest Exhibion and Conference on Cold-Chain, Industrial Refrigeraon & Reefer Transportaon will be held from 29th to 31st of October. The event is being launched in response to the interest expressed by the Industry to stay connected amidst these unprecedented mes.
Parcipants at virtual edion of REFCOLD INDIA will be able to establish contacts, enhance their networks, share knowledge, and discuss new products, projects and developments in the sector. Industry Experts can look forward to a top-level conference program featuring naonal as well as internaonal speakers of repute who will provide interesng insights and shed light on latest trends. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Anoop Ballaney, Chairman - REFCOLD INDIA – GOES VIRTUAL, 2020 EDITION, shared “India's most relevant forum for the Cold-Chain, Industrial Refrigeraon & Reefer Transportaon Industry will be held from October 29th-31st, 2020 in a virtual format. The event is being organized in response to the interest expressed by the Industry to stay connected amidst these unprecedented mes. From the me of its launch in 2018, REFCOLD INDIA has enjoyed a high level of support and parcipaon from the Industry.
The 2020 edion has been created as a special experience for exhibitors as also visitors to promote the development and expansion of this sector.” Delegates to technical sessions can expect a good mix of sessions, interacve panel discussions via Q&A chat conversaons, masterclass sessions, while exhibitors can showcase their products, build conversaons and have one-to-one meengs with registered aendees.
Ms. Sonia Prashar, Managing Director, NürnbergMesse India said, “With REFCOLD INDIA GOES VIRTUAL, 2020 edion, we aim to establish a forum which will keep the stakeholders engaged through dialogue & discussions. The event will enable us to remain connected, albeit in a different format, while seng the stage for innovaon and future planning. We would like to thank you most sincerely and the industry stakeholders for the feedback shared during the last few days, which helped us reach this decision.” Adding to this,
Mr. Richie Mial, Naonal President ISHRAE (Indian Society of Heang, Refrigerang and Air-condioning Engineers said, “It's a proud moment for ISHRAE along with NürnbergMesse India to announce first ever virtual exhibion on refrigeraon and cold chain.
The plaorm is designed to offer access to an exclusive virtual forum featuring exhibitor product informaon, announcements and demos, conference session, product presentaon etc.”
Govt. Extends Tenure Of Mr. LC Goyal As ITPO CMD
Govt. has given one year extension, up to September 1, 2021 to LC Goyal as Chairman and Managing Director, India Trade Promoon Organisaon. He has been serving as the Chairman & Managing Director of India Trade Promoon Organizaon since September, 2015. Mr. Goyal is a 1979 batch rered IAS officer of Kerala cadre served as the Union Home Secretary in 2015 apart from holding several key posions at the Centre and in the State of Kerala.
Informa Markets In India Announces The Launch Of Super September - Virtual B2B Celebraon
A fesval of digital offerings spanning 6 key vercals, 6 coveted brands and 6 different communies all in one power booster month
Informa Markets in India, India's leading B2B events organizer, announced the launch of Super September – Virtual B2B Celebraon, a powerful array of 6 digital expos in 6 key vercals for the month of September 2020. These will also be supplemented by a host of conferences, trainings, webinars and awards in the same month.
The virtual trade shows, dates, and the sector they cater to include:
Ÿ Renewable Energy India E-Expo: 2-3
September (Green Energy) Ÿ InnoPack Pharma Confex: 3-4
September (Packaging) Ÿ OSH India Virtual Expo: 17-18
September (Occupaonal safety & health) Ÿ IFSEC Indian Virtual Expo: 17-18
September (Security & surveillance) Ÿ SATTE GenX: 23 September (Travel & tourism) Ÿ PharmaLyca Virtual Expo Connect: 30
September - 1 October (Pharma).
The following conferences are also scheduled for the month:
Ÿ Future Packet Transport Network: 18
Ÿ
Ÿ Ÿ September Pharma Supply Chain: 17-18 September Biopharma Conclave: 24-25 September Cleaning Validaon: 29-30 September
The Virtual B2B Celebraon will help the relevant communies, and businesses overcome the limitaons of lockdown, achieve business goals and provide a powerful edge as the economy readies itself to get back on track.
While Informa Markets in India is scheduled to host its blockbuster physical shows near the end of the year in strict adherence to safety guidelines and protocols, the digital business celebraon in September will enable various industries to connue with their crical business conversaons, informaon sharing and trainings. Coinciding with the Government's 'Digital India' campaign's 5 th anniversary, 'Super September' supports the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' s COVID-19 smulus iniave to build a self-reliant India through the priorizaon of MSMEs, sustainability, power distribuon, health, and rural employment, among others.
Why the Super September – Virtual B2B Celebraon vision maers:
Ÿ The projected decline in global GDP is 7.6 %. (the 2008-9 global meltdown was a mild 1.79 % in comparison). Ÿ In India INC, the opmism index for
July-September 2020 was at a record low of approximately 35 % with all 6 indices of volume of sales, net profit, selling prices, new orders, inventories and employment showing a decline. Ÿ Industry esmates project that without a revision in business models,
India's leading brands may see a 15 % decline in their brand value. Ÿ The exhibions industry, forced to postpone its physical format, has been affected to the tune of INR 3 lakh crores of business, out of which a loss of INR 1.25 lakh crores has been incurred to the naonal economy due to non-holding of exhibions from
March 2020 ll date. Ÿ 15 lakhs livelihood lost.
As catalysts to the economy and as per recommendaon of its stakeholders, the exhibions industry is adapng to this new normal, even while facing immense challenges. With the lacunae in the industry that Covid-19 has created, worldwide and in India, Informa Markets in India aims to drive its leadership vision and ulize its transformaonal digital services to serve the industry and rebuild the economy.
Pioneering the virtual space: What it signifies
Empowered by the significant investments of its parent organizaon, Informa Plc, in the digital space on a global level, Informa Markets in India has amplified its digital mission soon aer the naonal lockdown on 25 March.
With a significant compression of me horizons, it organized its first virtual expo with the IFSEC Virtual Expo in June which was followed by Virtual Expos catering to Occupaonal Health & Safety, Renewable Energy, Beauty & Cosmecs, and Gem & Jewellery industries. An aracve array of online conferences also added to its impressive bouquet of digital events.· Globally, since Covid-19 struck, Informa Markets has successfully served more than 25 vercals virtually Ÿ An Informa Markets customer survey has revealed that in APAC countries, 60% customers prefer digitally enabled plaorms in addion to tradional ones alone. Ÿ The value enhancement rao of tradional plaorms: hybrid plaorms, as perceived by the markets is 1: 1.5. Ÿ Among Asian countries, India leads in the preference of live or onsite interacon between buyers and sellers. Ÿ Since June, a disnguished econgregaon of nearly 15,000 aendees including exhibitors, industry leaders, associaon heads,
ITB India’s organiser has announced the adopon of a hybrid model for ITB India combinaon of a live event (physical exhibion) held on 7- 9 April 2021, in and a virtual event happening five days Coming April 2021, ITB India 2021 will offer a hybrid exhibion experience to the entrepreneurs and professionals have been served by Informa Markets in India through the virtual trade shows ll date.
The Super-September - Virtual B2B Celebraon is being organised with significant learnings in this plaorm since the past few months, and with an unrelenng focus on quality, problem solving ability, seamless customer experience, security, pace and innovaon.
Speaking on the announcement of SuperSeptember Virtual B2B Celebraon, Mr. Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, Informa Markets in India, said, “We are proud to present the one-of-a-kind Virtual B2B celebraon. As an organizaon, we pioneered the virtual expo space by organizing our first e-expo InterOp, back in 2011. With our credibility and legacy in the domain, the Virtual B2B Celebraon is the result of the crescendo we have built in terms of scope, potenal and effort that will culminate with Unlock 4.0, starng the first exhibions in India to adopt a hybrid model. The live event will welcome over 8,000 aendees, more than 400 is set to complement the live event by reuning a much wider audience accompanied with digital innovaons to improve audience engagement and connecvity. of the future will be hybrid events. Classic from the beginning of September. The celebraon will no doubt, go a long way in turning the wheels of the economy. It is crical for the naon to promote 'Atmanirbharta' at this pping point and we are doing so by enabling multude businesses, and knowledge sharing by engaging with sector evangelists, brands, enterprises, government officials, and professionals at this vital juncture. While there are indicaons that India's turnaround may be a slower U-shaped or a W-shaped one, through exhibions, we hope to boost the business morale by working towards the opmal V-shaped economic re-emergence where the graph rises up factoring in public health as well.”
He added, “September witnesses the advent of auspicious fesvals in India -- a me for goodwill, peace and prosperity. The season also flags off the momentous last quarter of each year for Informa Markets in India, with its array of blockbuster shows. This year onwards, with our strategy to implement a hybrid version of shows, the digital celebraon in September will no doubt complement and
ITB India Goes Hybrid For Inaugural 2021 Live And Virtual Event
2021. The coming tradeshow will be a Bombay Exhibion Centre, Mumbai, India; later, on 15 – 16 April 2021.
travel industry. The event will be amongst exhibitors, over 500 buyers, and an array of over 150 top speakers. The virtual event
"We see how trade fairs are changing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Personal contact remains the heart of a trade fair. At the same me, however, the trade fairs bolster our physical shows.”
meengs of exhibitors and visitors will be accompanied by digital events,” said Sonia Prashar, Deputy Director General of IndoGerman Chamber of Commerce, the organiser of ITB India. ITB India 2021 will take place at the Bombay Exhibion Centre in Mumbai, India, from 7 to 9 April 2021. In its first year it will be organized by the IndoGerman Chamber of Commerce and supported by Messe Berlin (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
The 3-day business-to-business travel trade show and convenon will focus on the Indian travel market including MICE, corporate, and leisure travel sectors. Exhibitors from every sector of the industry, including travel agencies and operators, NTOs, business travel and MICE, travel technology, accommodaon, and transport companies are all expected to aend.
INTERNATI NAL M.I.C.E. SHOWCASE 2.0 IMS2.0 Concludes Successfully With 1120 Aendees From 52 Countries
Showcase 2.0 virtual summit was held successfully on September 11 & 12, 2020. The event highlighted the strength and the significance of the MICE sector and brought to the fore various facets about the industry in a well-craed & hard mes for the Meengs, Incenves, Conferences, Events & Exhibions sector. The MICE industry has been hit hard and the business has come to a standsll. As this sector is an economic enabler & a catalyst, slowly and surely, many countries are allowing MICE acvies to restart in a will open up but the industry needs to prepare itself to blossom in the new normal. Health and safety, technology and innovaon will play a key role in shaping proved to be a one of its kind virtual summit to reflect the preparedness of our sector to open up effecvely. Over 95 deliberated and discussed about the future of our industry and about geng ready to re-start in the new normal. 14 power packed sessions gave important insights and inslled 360 degree knowledge on many significant topics to 1,120 aendees from 52 countries who joined in during the two days of the summit. Another significant objecve of the IMS2.0 was to provide an effecve
Srithar Jochen Witt Ravinder Sethi
interface for enabling professional networking. Aendees got an opportunity to connect with each other and build their business relaonships. IMS2.0 was kept free to aend for the benefit of the fraternity at large. Aendees also got to were showcasing their new age soluons and their preparedness to open up effecvely. Once at their booth, aendees call features, view their videos, download various brouchers and engage via the social media plaorms as well. IMS2.0 turned out to be a perfect plaorm to learn, interact and grow business relaonships and was well appreciated by the aendees and parcipants alike. Recordings of all the sessions are now YouTube Channel.
The 1 st ever Internaonal M.I.C.E. comprehensive manner. These are very cauous manner. Gradually, the industry
the future of MICE industry. IMS2.0
speakers from all around the world
Phil Chung
GB
David Audrain
Andrew Phua
Maunik Thacker Raymond Lim
Chin Sak Hin
meet the future ready exhibitors who could meet the exhibitors via the video available on Exhibion Showcase Official
Singapore Tourism Board was the exclusive Planum Partner of the mega event. STB reflected their future ready desnaons, state of the art infrastructure to support MICE acvies and various offerings to promote business tourism through their parcipaon at IMS2.0. RE Rogers India was the Signature Partner, jwc Consulng (Germany) was the Advisory Partner while MBB Consulng Group (UK) was the knowledge Partner of IMS2.0.
In his Opening Remarks, Raghav Khosla, Group Editor, Exhibion Showcase, MICE Showcase, welcomed all the delegates and menoned that IMS2.0 is an effort to reflect the collecve strength and significance of our industry by bringing together all stakeholders on one plaorm. He further made a fervent request to the government to open up our sector. “I appeal to the government and the policy makers to give the aenon to our sector that we so deserve. We are not a part of general mass gatherings. We are the harbinger to your economic growth and not allowing us a restart date is not just our loss but the loss of the businesses across various sectors to revive back effecvely,” he concluded.
INTERNATI NAL M.I.C.E.
SHOWCASE 2.0
IMS2.0 Opening Notes by Industry Leaders
At the outset, I congratulate Exhibion Showcase for organising this significant iniave for the industry. It is an excellent opportunity for all the stakeholders to interact and deliberate on the way ahead for the MICE sector in the context of the COVID 19 situaon. We all are aware about the crucial role that the MICE sector plays towards the economy. Indeed, we are passing through a difficult me but it is temporary phenomenon and it will not last long. I am quite confident that MICE industry and all the stakeholders have the resilience, confidence and determinaon to bounce back with new vigour and enthusiasm. As far as ITPO is concerned, we are ready to hold events in four new exhibion halls at Praga Maidan. We have prepared a comprehensive SOP encompassing all the key aspects. And, I assure you that ITPO will allow events to be held at Praga Maidan aer taking into account all the difficules and issues faced by different stakeholders as a result of the COVID 19 situaon. I wish you all the best, stay healthy and stay safe.
All of us are aware that the Pandemic has posed a serious challenge before the enre humanity. MICE sector has not been le behind & infact it is one of the most deeply impacted sectors owing to this outbreak. But, having said that, I believe that every challenge brings with itself a lot of opportunies. We, as a part of the MICE Sector, should not get distracted by the outcome in the last six months or what has happened or not happened during this me. Rather, we should use this me to rethink, reinvent, and reposion ourselves & our sector in a way that we are able to serve our stakeholders in beer way. If the economy has to come back to normal and charter its growth path then trade promoon has to be the key to this momentum. And we all know that how essenal is the MICE sector in enabling trade. We, at ITPO have been supporve of the enre MICE sector in India and we will do whatever it takes to see that this sector comes back on track, reposions itself and restarts in a big way, sooner rather than later.
Today, we are all in the same boat due to the challenges posed by this Pandemic. We all are aware that opening of the physical exhibions, congregaon, events, meengs and conferences are very much important for the economic development of the country. Infact, the MICE sector is the mulplier of the economic growth and it is also an important employment generator – both for the skilled and unskilled sector. So, it is me that the Indian Government should bring it into consideraon so that we can grow on the lines of 'AtmaNirbharBharat'. Since many countries have already announced for the opening of venues and exhibions it is important that we do not lose any more opportunity. It is the responsibility of the venue holders & organisers to pracce prudence in making the events safe and such SOPs are very much in place & duly submied to the government for allowance.
With a belief that the pandemic cannot determine the fate of people and our industry will bounce back, Mr. Anbu said, MICE industry is the back bone of cross-cultural trade, commerce and business development. MICE is an enabler for building the economy of our country, providing livelihoods and developing strong relaonships between countries. The exhibion & convenon industry across the world has undergone tremendous stress. UFI and all other industry associaons have taken various measures to tackle the situaon and keep the fraternity engaged during these difficult mes. Let us be opmisc and look forward for brighter days.
INTERNATI NAL M.I.C.E.
SHOWCASE 2.0
Mr. Kai Hattendorf, MD & CEO - UFI
‘Normally’, September is a me our industry is busy all around the world. Hundreds of shows, thousands of exhibing companies and lacs of visitors on the show floor has been a paern since many years. UFI suggests that we are already beginning to recover. We see huge domesc shows taking place in China, Japan, Korea and Germany already. Situaon remains difficult in the vast part of the world of course, but these shows around the world have also helped to rebuild momentum to convince our customers, the exhibitors and the visitors that shows can run well and safe even during the pandemic with necessary precauons.
It is encouraging to note exhibions and events have restarted in some part of the world with new frame work and safety protocols. We need to be future ready and adopon of technology would be crucial to stay relevant and sustain in the changing mes. Future business models cannot be made on past history or successes. IEIA has launched several iniaves and made representaon to the Government. We are hopeful that Government would soon allow us to restart and we will soon meet face to face.
Mr. Walter Yeh, President, Asian Federation of Exhibition & Convention Associations
Governments across the world are taking effecve measures to reopen and support the MICE industry. Furthermore, many organisers are reopening their MICE events according to the new normal. Digitalisaon is the hot topic in MICE industry now.
The Covid 19 outbreak has brought an unprecedented amount of uncertainty into the economies around the world. On the tourism front, much cauon is being necessarily exercised by the Governments to restart the travel space and opening up the borders. India is an important MICE source market for Singapore. It is therefore very important that we connue our engagement connecons and stand united in this troubled hour. In Singapore, a risk management framework has been developed for business events that is based on strict & safe management measures. STB will be trialling this framework with two pilot hybrid events in the coming months and gradually scale it up to other events for event organisers. I wish you all to stay safe, stay posive and stay producve.
IAEE represents over twelve thousand professionals in fiy countries for the very valuable global exhibion and business events industry. Surely, we are working our way out of the very difficult global pandemic situaon both economically and from a health standpoint but we have to stay posive. I know that we're in the middle of a storm and I do also believe that sunshine is in our future so let's keep a very posive frame of thought as we move forward.
INTERNATI NAL M.I.C.E.
SHOWCASE 2.0
Mr. Suman Billa, Director, United Nations World Tourism Organisation
Today we are seeing a crisis like no other, the united naons world tourism organizaon esmates that internaonal tourist arrivals this year are likely to drop anywhere between 60 to 80 percent. Today the most important thing for us to do is to survive and survival can be ensured by making sure that there is adequate liquidity in the system and ensuring that the job losses are kept to a minimum. India's pandemic is peaking now it is widely expected that by Mid-October the prime of the pandemic would have passed & if that be the case i think we should be prepared to restart the tourism sector from November onwards using domesc market as the growth engine by using strong safety and hygiene protocols which give confidence to the consumer to travel again.
Namaste on behalf of India Convenon Promoon Bureau to the enre MICE industry. I welcome all the parcipants and delegates of Internaonal Mice Showcase hosted by exhibion showcase. Tourism industry is facing the toughest me ever and I hope this event brings lots of posivity to the MICE industry. At ICPB, we are doing our best to revive the Indian MICE industry and we are hopeful for posive developments in the near future.
Exhibions & business events play a major role in the life of MSMEs to the tune of about 50 percent of the business or its turnover comes only from exhibions and trade events. Most of the MSMEs cannot afford to have their own direct markeng network, they cannot afford mul-locaon offices and they do get a very good ROI through exhibions. The present pandemic has put MSMEs in a lot of stress that besides their cash flow and liquidity problems, they are also deprived to get in touch with their clients and buyers through physical exhibions and events. I am sure that its just a queson of me that your industry will bounce back and ll that me we do hope that the virtual events will provide more support for the MSMEs.
Exhibion Showcase is organizing this very important virtual conference and B2B meengs for the MICE industry. I am also happy to note that IESA members are parcipang in this conference and will be greatly benefited by it. I extend my best wishes to Exhibion showcase for organising this very significant event for the industry.
INTERNATI NAL M.I.C.E.
SHOWCASE 2.0
I would like to express my sincere appreciaon to the organizer of IMS2.0 virtual summit for bringing together the global industry leaders on one plaorm. I would also like to thank all the internaonal speakers because i believe that your insights may change our peers foresight and thought process on how to tackle this situaon. It has always been proven me and me again that by working in unity & cohesion, we can remain ahead of the curve. The MICE industry has always been vital to the naonal economies because it is one of the most effecve markeng plaorms to bring a sustainable revenue stream across various sectors. And while COVID 19 has unprecedently disrupted the whole world, I would encourage all of us to stay future focused as we lead the rebuilding of business model for our industry and our people.
I am honoured and humbled to deliver this vote of thanks to such a highly disnguished panel from the global MICE industry. We are today in very challenging mes but having said that we are also aware that we are on the road to revival. Social media every day is talking about new markets opening from around the world and this is what we all have gathered here at IMS for. IMS reflects our sector’s strength and it’s a crucial plaorm to deliberate on the future of our industry. This collecve reflecon on the situaon from the global industry leaders will pave way for the fraternity at large and bring to them much needed foresights to remain strong and commied to the industry.
IMS2.0 Supporting Bodies
India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) (A Government of India Enterprise) Department of Commerce Conferences Exhibitions Events Meetings
India's leading Media for MICE
INDI GLOBAL A MIC MICE ALLIANCE E ALLIANCE
INTERNATI NAL M.I.C.E.
SHOWCASE 2.0
We bring to you the excerpts of a couple of sessions at IMS2.0. Complete recordings of all the sessions at IMS2.0 are now available on Exhibion Showcase YouTube channel
Future of Exhibion, Event & Convenon Industry
Mr. Rajesh Agrawal, Execuve Director, ITPO, Chairman, India MICE Alliance, shared that the good part is that the economy which was completely choked out in April because of the naonwide lockdown has slowly started reviving. We are aware of the fact that the exhibion industry in some way has made its beginning in some parts of the world so slowly things are beginning to shape up and we are confident that the industry will bounce back in India too.
Mr. Michael Duck, Execuve Vice President, Asia, Informa Markets, shared that he lived in Hong Kong during the SARS epidemic which was a truly awful me and lasted some seven-eight months or so but these are unprecedented mes for the humanity. He also highlighted that there is nowhere else in the world at the moment where the shows are going on like the way they are, except for China. One of the most important things we have got to do is to create confidence in our markets & in our businesses.
Mr. Andrew Phua, Execuve Director, Exhibions and Conferences, Singapore Tourism Board shared that Singapore is opening in a very safe and calibrated manner. “When it comes to resumpon of MICE events we are going to be pilong the smaller ones before we scale up and step up to the larger events. We'll be coming out with an event guide to pivot the MICE industry on how to reopen for business with all the necessary guidelines.” Mr. Phua menoned about various support schemes launched by Singapore and also highlighted about their much acclaimed job support scheme.
Mr. Phil Chung, CEO Kinexin, (IICC Operator) shared about the developments in the Korean region and how Kintex venue has been hosng physical exhibions successfully despite the pandemic. He highlighted that it requires concentrated efforts and coordinaon between the venue and the organisers to ensure safe and effecve events and that the events are being driven under the new protocols and SOP. He also menoned the relevance of hybrid events and gave an update on the IICC, New Delhi venue construcon.
Ms. Nichapa Yoswee, Senior Vice President, Thailand Convenon and Exhibion Bureau, shared that since the outbreak, the government has launched
of at least five phases of economic smulus packages worth more than $65 billion just to support SMES, including MICE stakeholders. Recently, the Thai government just launched a new campaign to boost local travel industry by providing subsidy for overnight stays and including discount on domesc ckets. The other good news in Thailand is that since June the government has announced to reopen the MICE sector which means that all MICE events can operate without limits on size or number of aendees, with their new hygiene guidelines and SOP.
Mr. Jochen Wi, President & CEO, jwc GmbH, said that It will be significant to learn from the shows that are beginning to take place including the much awaited Caravan salon in Dusseldorf. He menoned that the industry might not get back to pre-crisis levels before 2023 or even 2024.
Mr. Ravinder Sethi, CMD, RE Rogers India, said that our industry is a resilient one and this phase too shall pass soon. He highlighted the significance of confidence building measures amidst these troubled mes.
INTERNATI NAL M.I.C.E.
SHOWCASE 2.0
Mr. Rakesh Kumar, DG, EPCH & Chairman, IEML, Chairman - Advocacy Commiee, IEIA, said that even aer unlock4.0, the exhibion sector has not got any relief from govt. in regards to opening up the industry. Commenng on the present state of enre industry, Mr. V Anbu, DG & CEO- IMTMA and BIEC, Incoming President, UFI, said that though enre global trade has been impacted to the tune of 35% due to COVID , but few sectors like MICE are even much more severely affected. THIS YEAR is the year of SURVIVAL. Last quarter from January to March may bring some opportunies. Commenng on the NEW NORMAL, he said that eventually industry will go back to normal, but in a different manner. Exhibion organizers as well as venue providers will have to adapt a lot of technology in their trade shows. Digital tech will play a great role. Technology will also bring a lot of efficiency in various aspects of a trade show, for example registraon & matchmaking. Visitors will be more focused.
Mr. Kai Haendorf, MD & CEO, UFI, shared that travel is a necessity for shows to take place. Prospecve on reopening of exhibions is not so negave. September onwards, 40% companies globally are set to resume some acvity. Local and naonal events will precede Internaonal events. As far as revenues are concerned, it is a very difficult situaon for the whole industry. We see 40% of revenue coming as compared to the last year. Industry professionals should collaborate and speak in one voice. It is important to work with govt authories. He highlighted that ‘Trust and Relaonships’ are important aspects in face to face and it will be challenging to fix them elsewhere. Mr. Walter Yeh, President, AFECA & TECA, commented that because of travel restricons, most of Internaonal events will be virtual this year . Some countries in Asia have opened their trade shows, but they are mostly local. Companies will have to find soluons in a digital way, otherwise visitors’ parcipaon will not be possible. Embracing technology for online shows is very important. Another queson is how to make online trade shows profitable? Commenng on how Hong kong is opening up its industry, what safety protocols and precauons are being taken
Mr. Stuart Bailey, President, Hong Kong Exhibion & Convenon Industry Associaon, stated that travel is a necessity and borders are opening gradually. Being normal is a long way, but there are posive signs in the form of virtual conferences. China is also down as compared to previous year but they are opening up now. Industry might take 2 years to come back to normal. China is a big market, so naonal trade fairs can take place. They can have naonal buyers. Hongkong is an internaonal city and needs to have internaonal buyers. Hongkong is down by 90% this year and China by 65%. China & Hong Kong have taken very strict measures to check spread of COVID. Mr. Stuart Bailey then remarked that in the beginning the organisers considered technology as their competor. But now they understand that digital technology can enhance the value of their show and more importantly ‘Return on Investment’. But online events have their limitaons. Business is conducted through trust and for this face to face meengs are necessary. That is why it is important to go back to physical events.
Mr. Ravinder Sethi, CMD, RE Rogers India, in his closing remarks said that one good thing that has come out of this pandemic is that the whole Industry has come together. Since govt. has opened different industries in previous unlock periods, it is only a maer of me when trade show industry will also be allowed to reopen. He reaffirmed to everyone that do not underesmate and put off this industry. He menoned that hybrid model will remain more relevant in present mes since there are travel restricons in place. He concluded by highlighng that the face to face meengs are irreplaceable but technology has to be treated as our friend. It is also important to build trust with all the stake holders.
Complete recordings of all the sessions at IMS2.0 are now available on Exhibion Showcase YouTube channel.
DAY 1 : 11 th September, 2020
Inauguraon Ceremony
Opening Remarks
Key Note Welcome Note
Mr. LC Goyal
Chairman and Managing Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation
Mr. Rakesh Kumar
DG, EPCH & Chairman, IEML, Chairman, Advocacy Committee, IEIA
Organiser's Message
Mr. Rajesh Agrawal
Executive Director, ITPO, Chairman, India MICE Alliance
Mr. V Anbu
DG & CEO, IMTMA and BIEC, Incoming President, UFI
Mr. Kai Hattendorf
MD & CEO, UFI
Mr. Balasubramanian S
President, Indian Exhibition Industry Association
Mr. Walter Yeh Mr. GB Srithar Mr. Suman Billa
President, Asian Regional Director Director, United Federation of India, Middle East & South Asia, Nations World Exhibition & Singapore Tourism Board Tourism Convention Associations Organisation
Mr. David Duboiss President, International Association of Exhibitions and Events
Mr. Raghav Khosla Group Editor, Exhibition Showcase, MICE Showcase, Association Buzz
Mr. Amaresh Tiwari Vice Chairman, India Convention Promotion Bureau
Mr. P Udayakumar Director, (P & M) National Small Industries Corporation
Mr. Sunil More
President, Indian Exhibitions, Conferences and Events Services Association
Ms. Nichapa Yoswee
Senior Vice President, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau
Vote of Thanks
Mr. Ravinder Sethi Chairman & MD, R.E. Rogers India & International Ambassador, IEIA
Session 1
Future of Exhibion, Event & Convenon Industry
Mr. Rajesh Agrawal ED, ITPO & Chairman, India MICE Alliance
Mr. Michael Duck Executive Vice President, Asia Informa Markets
Mr. Andrew Phua
Executive Director, Exhibitions and Conferences, Singapore Tourism Board
Mr. Ravinder Sethi
CMD, RE Rogers India
Mr. Phil Chung
CEO Kinexin, (IICC Operator)
Ms. Nichapa Yoswee
Senior Vice President, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau
Mr. Jochen Witt
President & CEO, jwc GmbH
Mr. Rakesh Kumar
DG, EPCH & Chairman, IEML, Chairman, Advocacy Committee, IEIA
Mr. V Anbu
Director General & CEO, IMTMA and BIEC, Incoming President UFI
Mr. Kai Hattendorf
MD & CEO, UFI
Mr. Walter Yeh
President, AFECA & TECA
Mr. Ravinder Sethi
Chairman & MD, R.E. Rogers India, & International Ambassador, IEIA
Mr. Stuart Bailey
President, Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association
Moder a Mr. Raghav Khosla tor
Group Editor, Exhibition Showcase,
MICE Showcase, Association Buzz
Session 3
How To Bring The Visitors & The Buzz Back To Live Events? Re-Defining Our Value Preposion
Mr. David Duboiss
President, International Association of Exhibitions and Events
Mr. Balvinder Sawhney
Asst. Secretary General, FICCI
Mr. J Shankar
General Manager, CII
Mr. Rajan Sharma
Managing Director, InterAds Exhibitions
Mr. Sunil Jain
President, Plastics Machinery Manufacturers Association of India
Ms. Loredana Sartian
Secretary General, Associazione Esposizioni e Fiere Italiane
Mr. Paul Colston
Managing Editor, Exhibition World
Moder a Mr. Raghav Khosla tor
Group Editor, Exhibition Showcase, MICE Showcase, Association Buzz
Session 4
Lessons Learnt From COVID 19 - Opportunity In Adversity
Mr. Bhupinder Singh
CEO, Messe Muenchen India
Ms. Seema Srivastava
Executive Director, India ITME Society
Mr. Naji El Haddad
Regional Manager, MEA, UFI
Mr. Bejan Dinshaw
Country Manager, Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi
Mr. Ronjon Lahiri
Asst. DG Retired, Ministry of Tourism, India
Mr. Sanjay Datta
President, SKAL International
Mr. Raghav Khosla Group Editor, Exhibition Showcase, MICE Showcase, Association Buzz
Singapore MICE Presentaon
Mr. GB Srithar Regional Director, India, Middle East & South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board
Mr. Raymond Lim Area Director North & East India Singapore Tourism Board
Mr. Yogesh Mudras
Managing Director, Informa Markets India
Mr. Mark Cochrane
Regional Manager, Asia Pacic, UFI
Mr. Manish Chandak
President & CEO, Ungerboeck
Mr. Chander Mansharmani Mr. Kiran Bhandari
MD, Alpcord Network Dubai Business Events Travel & Conferences Director, India Ofce
Ms. Karla Juegel
CEO, Messe|Marketing
Mr. Richard Ireland Vice President, Professional Development SACEOS & MD, Clarion Events Asia
Do We Need Government's Focus On Our Industry. If Yes Then Session 6 How Can It Be Done - Call For Industry Status
Mr. Kailash Murarka
Chairman, Plastivision 2020
Mr. Girish Kwatra
Hony. Secretary, ICPB
Mr. Subhash Goyal
Hony. Secretary, Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality Industry
Mr. Sanjoy Roy
Immediate Past President, EEMA
Mr. Swadesh Kumar President, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India
Mr. Gajesh Girdhar
Founder Chairman, Network of Indian MICE Agents
Moder a Mr. Raghav Khosla tor
Group Editor, Exhibition Showcase,
MICE Showcase, Association Buzz
DAY 2 : 12 th September, 2020
ETT VIEWPOINT - The Big Virtual Queson - Relevance, Acceptance, Session 7 Threat - An Overview
Mr. Matthias Tesi Baur
CEO, MBB Consulting Group & Founder, ETT
Mr. Stephan Forseilles
Technology Director, Easy Fairs
Mr. Justin Pau Events Consultant
Mr. Mike Frost
Recruitment Director, Expocast
Mr. Manish Chandak
President & CEO, Ungerboeck
Mr. Atul Todi
CEO, 10 Times
Mr. Abhishek Kumar
COO, Grover AV
Session 8
Geng Ready To Re-Start In The New Normal - How Far Are We Going To Change
Mr. Balasubramanian S ED & COO, IMTMA & BIEC, and President, IEIA
Ms. Sonia Prashar
Managing Director, NürnbergMesse India
Mr. Amaresh Tiwari
Vice Chairman, ICPB
Mr. Rod Kamleshwaran
Partner and COO, GainingEdge
Mr. Vivek Shukla
Director, Afairs Exhibitions
Mr. Chin Sak Hin
Assistant Chief Executive Ofcer, (Finance) Sentosa Development Corporation
Mr. Berislav Cizmek
CEO, CBBS Group
Evolving Role Of MICE Venues - Challenges & Opportunies Ahead
Session 9
Mr. Maunik Thacker
Senior Vice President, Marketing, Marina Bay Sands
Mr. Fred Lazzerini
MD, Asia Pacic Ungerboeck
Mr. Tomasz Szypuła
CEO & President, Ptak Warsaw Expo
Mr. Sachin Kumar Sinha
CFO, India Exposition Mart
Ms. Meena Bhatia
VP, Le Meridien, New Delhi
Mr. Raghav Khosla
Group Editor, Exhibition Showcase
Moder a tor
Upcoming Trends In Our Industry - Drivers To Future Growth Session 10
Mr. David Audrain Executive Director, Society of Independent Show Organizers
Mr. Raymond Lim Area Director North & East India Singapore Tourism Board
Mr. Rajeev Kohli
Joint Managing Director, Creative Travel
Mr. Naveen Rizvi
Executive Director, ICE and Governing Board ICPB
Ms. Mariane Ewbank
Director, Fulstandig Shows
Mr. Ravinder Sethi
CMD, RE Rogers India
Closing R emar ks
How To Restore The Confidence Of Parcipants : Bring Them Back Session 11 On The Show-Floor
Ms. Himani Gulati
Director, MEX Exhibitions
Mr. Igor Palka
Director, Messe Muenchen GmbH
Mr. Dayakar Reddy
President, IPAMA
Mr. Ravi Boratkar
MD, Asian Conventions & Expositions
Mr. Peter Theodorides
President, International Federation of Exhibition & Event Services
Mr. Vikas Vij
MD, IDEX
Moder a
Mr. Raghav Khosla tor
Group Editor, Exhibition Showcase,
MICE Showcase, Association Buzz
The Future Of Business Tourism - Evoluon Of Business Travel Session 12 In The New Normal
Mr. Vinod Zutshi Ex. Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India
Ms. Jyoti Mayal President, Travel Agents Association of India
Mr. Riaz Munshi
President, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India
Mr. Sanjeev Joshi
President, SITE India
Mr. Jatinder Singh Taneja
Vice Chairman, PATA India Chapter
Mr. Nitin Sachdeva
Co-Chair, Meetings Mean Business India
Mr. PP Khanna
President, ADTOI
Session 13
Focus On Sustainability - Driving Responsible Events
Mr. Sooraj Dhawan
Director, Falcon Exhibitions
Mr. Kailash Singh
Managing Director, Tea's
Mr. Surajit Bit
Director, Messe Düsseldorf India
Mr. HS Bedi
Director, PS Bedi Group & Chairman, IELA (2018-2020)
Ms. Suparna Gupta
Co-Chairperson, G S Marketing Associates
Mr. Stephan Murtagh
Director, The Exhibition Guy
Mr. Rameet Parmar
Losberger Deboer Group, Country & Projet Manager
Vote Of Thanks Closing Ceremony
Charng The Path Ahead For Singapore MICE In India
Singapore’s Handling of the COVID-19 pandemic
Singapore is fortunate that we have the capacity and resources to manage the Covid-19 pandemic in a robust manner and we have made good progress. Majority of the economy has re-opened since Singapore entered into the second phase of “A Safe Singapore” on 19 June 2020. Singapore is ranked by Deep Knowledge Centre, an independent think tank body as the 4th safest country in the world for Covid-19. This is a mark of assurance that Singapore is doing things right. Under a domesc tourism campaign, “SingapoRediscovers”, our aracons have started welcoming Singaporeans and local residents, with safe distancing measures put in place.
The recovery for tourism will take me and Singapore is adopng a measured and cauous re-opening of its borders for internaonal travel that is based on data and evidence. We have progressively put in place fast / green lane arrangements with more countries and regions and will adjust our measures for inbound travellers according to risk of importaon.
Impact on MICE
It will take a while for global travel senments to return and for borders to re-open and we have to be prepared for recovery to be a slow, deliberate process. The resumpon of MICE events is to be done in a careful and calibrated manner, with limits on the size and capacity of events to ensure safety of on-site parcipants and allow for wider interacons through virtual plaorms.
Safe distancing will shape how various aspects of social and business acvies will be conducted. The MICE industry is rethinking how business events will be organised and how it can deliver new value. Various alternave meeng formats that allow people to meet and interact remotely have emerged. Covid-19 has certainly pushed the fast-forward buon and accelerated digital transformaon and adopon across the world. Today, consumers use screens and live virtual experiences more than ever, and that's how the MICE space will be redefined – a consumer-centric offering that is digital-enabled and dataempowered.
Host your business events on board the Royal Albatross
Public spaces are being re-designed so as to provide safe distancing, touch-less soluons and hygiene pracces for delegates and employees. Virtual spaces are being transformed to replace physical meengs.
One such recent event in Singapore was the Internaonal Dental Exhibion and Meeng (IDEM), which converted its physical trade show and conference into a fully virtual event in June 2020. Featuring a digital conference and exhibion, it had aracted close to 4,000 parcipants, with over 300 exhibing brands from over 50 countries, demonstrang how virtual engagements can augment face-to-face events safely and effecvely.
Hybrid event formats have become increasingly significant, where content is delivered virtually, while retaining the live aspect for limited, small groups of aendees that fulfils parcipants' needs to connect. These hybrid event formats ensure that the digital aspects complement in-person events. Marina Bay Sands in Singapore has recently launched a hybrid event broadcast studio with hologram funconalies at its Sands Expo and Convenon Centre. This state-of-the-art studio is designed to accommodate a live studio audience with a maximum capacity of 50 persons at any one me, enabling it to be versale in hosng meengs in a hybrid format and offer opportunies to wow the parcipants through immersive content. We will certainly see more of such innovaons as the industry landscape and experience evolve. Maunik Thacker, Senior Vice President – Markeng, Marina Bay Sands says “The MICE industry is currently experiencing an accelerated digital transformaon, and tradional event set-ups may no longer serve the needs of event planners in this new environment. Digisaon, flexibility of venue spaces as well as health and safety protocols will be event planners' key priories following the resumpon of the industry. Marina Bay Sands is invesng in the future and has further expanded our in-house capabilies to meet the demands of the evolving landscape. Our new state-of-the-art hybrid broadcast studio was conceptualised as a first-of-its-kind offering both in its design system and set-up as well as overall operang model. We will connue to bring forth technological innovaon to the business event industry by offering AR, VR, XR and holographic telepresence capabilies to co-create a unified experience for both in-person and virtual audiences. Having an operaonally safe venue and sanised operaons is the new baseline for us. The integrated resort has implemented an even more rigorous suite of hygiene and precauonary measures to safeguard the health and safety of our communies.”
Singapore MICE Industry Gearing Up
Singapore Tourism Board (STB) had on 22 July announced the calibrated and safe resumpon of business events which is
supported by a risk management framework for business events of up to 50 aendees, based on strict safe management measures. STB would trial this framework with two pilot events before gradually scaling up to other events. Building upon the successful trial of this framework in a pilot hybrid event in August, it was further announced on 7 September that STB would start accepng applicaons for organisers to pilot MICE events with up to 250 aendees. This augurs well for the MICE industry as it prepares itself to safely open the doors to holding events at an even larger scale and subsequently welcoming foreign delegates' parcipaon. To provide further guidance for our MICE businesses, STB and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) are collaborang with the Singapore Associaon of Convenon and Exhibion Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS) to formulate an Event Industry Resilience Roadmap (IRR). This roadmap is the result of a publicprivate partnership focused on three strategic objecves: establishing best-in-class standards for new event safety measures, creang agile business models with a focus on digital capabilies, and developing pathways for professional development. The Event IRR will provide mely guidance on safety measures and best pracces in line with the gradual resumpon of business events.
On the hygiene and sanisaon front, Singapore has taken a number of measures. One of them is the SG Clean quality mark, our naonal mark of excellence for environmental public hygiene and the government's effort to rally businesses and the public to uphold good sanisaon standards and hygiene pracces. To date, more than 20,000 premises including MICE venues and facilies such as Sands Expo & Convenon Centre, Singapore Expo, Resorts World Convenon Centre, and Suntec Singapore Convenon Centre have been cerfied.
We are heartened to see some momentum building up with two recent successful bids secured in August 2020 for the rights to host the Worldchefs Congress and Expo in 2024 and the 110 th Lions Clubs Internaonal Convenon in 2028. The Lions Clubs Internaonal Convenon is expected to aract around 20,000 foreign delegates. These successes build upon Singapore's track record as Asia Pacific's top meeng city for 18 consecuve years and the confidence in Singapore's robust and transparent handling of the Covid-19 situaon. Ms. Lynee Ang, Chief Markeng Officer, Sentosa Development Corporaon says “As an island-in-the-city that offers an array of novel leisure experiences all in one place, Sentosa has been popular amongst MICE groups from India, among other markets, and we look forward to retaining this appeal post-COVID-19. We have therefore connued to engage our partners regularly through plaorms such as virtual tradeshows and webinars to keep in touch with our trade partners, despite the inability to meet faceto-face during this period,”
She added: “As travel restricons start to gradually ease, such as through the establishment of “green lanes” for travel, we have begun to study what we can do for MICE delegates while assuring their safety and well-being. This includes working closely with STB to pilot trial MICE events to test the newly launched Safe Business Events framework and the safe management measures in place. We have also been studying new ways to bring Sentosa's offerings safely to delegates, by offering hybrid “phygital” experiences that integrate the virtual and physical. As part of the SingapoRediscovers domesc tourism campaign, we have curated fresh and authenc experiences such as themed ineraries, as well as Fun Deals across F&B, aracons and hotels, which we believe can be adapted for tourists and MICE audiences at a later stage. We will connue to deepen our engagement with stakeholders and posion Sentosa for a strong recovery, as we look forward to welcoming our overseas guests again.”
A peek into my work journey
People maer the most. Growing connecons within the travel and MICE tourism industry and culvang relaonships with partner-friends in India are important for my team and I. This focus and belief in people before results stem from my earlier human resource professional career in HR management, development, change management and organisaon development. This HR grounding, with markeng and business development acumen picked up along my work journey, has helped me lead interesng tourism projects. I enjoy the privilege of leading a great team. By building on their strengths and commitment to quality work and fostering deep travel trade
LAVO Singapore on level 57 at Marina Bay Sands offers one of the best roof top experiences
Gardens By The Bay has both indoor and outdoor venues to hold corporate and private events.
relaonships, we bring Singapore even closer to the hearts and minds of Indian consumers. Having spent about a decade in HR funcons in STB, I was posted to India as Area Director in April 2010. I had enjoyed my close-to-4 years snt, doing various leisure, enrichment and PR projects and established good networks in the travel trade. Aer a couple of years in STB HQ's Internaonal Markeng and Brand Campaigns teams, I returned as Regional Director in mid 2016. In the past decade, India has grown in importance for Singapore, moving up from the fih to third posion as a visitor arrival source market for us. Two areas that we have focused on: strong travel trade engagement and innovave, engaging consumer outreach projects. In line with our “Growing Connecons, Achieving Together” trade engagement theme, we have built strong and meaningful relaonships with travel trade across India. We have embarked on many travel promoon and consumer outreach projects with them. To present Singapore in different, fresh perspecves to the Indian audiences, we have worked on several unique collaboraons with brands like Dharma Producons, Ola, Paytm, Tripoto, VOOT, Vh1, St+art India Foundaon and Zomato. These projects have helped showcase the diverse offerings of Singapore and keep the city as a top choice desnaon. In the important MICE and Cruise sectors, we work closely with the trade fraternity to retain Singapore as an ideal desnaon for meengs and incenve travel and cruise holidays.
Aracng the Indian MICE travellers
India is one of the top source MICE markets for Singapore, parcularly for meengs and incenve travel. This is a key sector with quality visitors providing high tourism yield and features prominently in our work in India. We work very closely with corporates, M&I travel intermediaries, event organisers in India and Singapore tourism stakeholders to facilitate the staging of successful and memorable group experiences in Singapore. STB has developed various support schemes to beer equip MICE agents and corporates in their planning for their next business Enjoy a drink at Smoke & Mirrors, National Gallery
trip to Singapore. These schemes have been customised keeping in mind that group size will be smaller for a start. Ÿ INSPIRE (In Singapore Incenves & Rewards) is a scheme which supports small groups and offers a choice of precurated unique experiences such as dining opons, event venues, aracons admission with extra benefits, tours and teambuilding acvies. Ÿ BEiS (Business Events in Singapore) is a financial support scheme to help anchor and grow quality events, and innovate new content Ÿ SMAP (Singapore MICE Advantage Program) offers a host of privileges and unique experiences for delegates. Ÿ STARS (Special Travel Agent Rewards Singapore) recognises
MICE agents and event planners for securing groups to
Singapore. These schemes are reviewed regularly to meet the changing needs of the corporates, MICE agents and event planners and to keep Singapore compeve as a top-of-mind MICE desnaon for the Indian market. We welcome interested pares to connect with us and find out more.
Heightened concerns of safety and hygiene, demand for clear, hassle-free travel arrangements and strong co-operaon among corporates, MICE intermediaries and host country's stakeholders will determine MICE desnaons and experiences. Singapore is well-known for its safety, cleanliness, efficient infrastructure and systems. Together with our industry partners, we will present Singapore as one of the world's leading desnaons for safe, trusted and innovave business events.
Singapore's business events sector has shown much resilience during this difficult period, and we are grateful for the innovaveness and adaptability shown by our industry. We are confident that Singapore will lead the way in reimagining what safe and high-quality business events could look like. We will connue to extend our hands in partnership in India and work with MICE players and corporates to bring groups to Singapore, when the ming is right.
Hannover Fairs Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd
Raising the bar for health and safety Innovating for the future of business events
Article by Manish Chandak, President & CEO, Ungerboeck
Bringing people together has never been harder nor, paradoxically, easier. The digital age has brought people together across the planet to build communies and share experiences. More people are connecng online than ever before for work, family, and entertainment, and they are changing the digital landscape. They are demanding new tools and new experiences to mirror their physical life in their digital life.
Our audiences are primed for an immersive digital experience, requiring an evolved approach to onsite experiences, and expecng innovave blending of online and onsite as we forge towards a new normal in the event world. The events industry is uniquely posioned to use technology to our advantage. Now, in a me of unprecedented struggle in the events industry, we cannot afford to hope that our tradional business models will bounce back from the brink.
We must define a new model that sustainably supports our industry.
Supporng Venues with their Reopening
The new era of face-to-face event experiences requires conscious efforts to priorise aendee and staff safety. Venues are being challenged to implement procedures that comply with local health regulaons. Many of these safety measures are likely to become standard pracce as global atudes change regarding crowd control and cleanliness.
Technology providers play a big part in supporng venues with their reopening. They can help venues idenfy potenal high-risk aendees during the event registraon process so staff can plan accordingly. They can provide powerful room configuraon tools that account for social distancing and changing capacity regulaons. They can help venue staff keep track of specific cleaning and sanitaon tasks alongside other general maintenance and operaonal tasks, as well as help facilitate contactless payment opons, keep track of all people coming in and out of the venue, and much more. In this new age of events, technology providers must adopt a holisc approach to support venues and event organisers. Any tools we create must benefit all pares to an event.
That's why Ungerboeck has developed new room diagramming, visitor management, and operaons task tracking tools that help venues support their staff, protect their aendees, and guide their partners at the same me. Event technology also needs to adapt to changing regulaons and expectaons. We intenonally designed Ungerboeck's onsite event tools to be easily configurable so that venues can change data collecon, cleaning protocols, and event setup plans as oen as required.
Even more importantly, technology providers need to create tools that allow our venue customers to avoid lost revenue from cancellaons. These tools will allow our customers to easily convert an onsite event to a virtual event as safety situaons change. Ungerboeck Soware allows our customers to prepare for mulple event styles simultaneously. Our soware allows a venue to plan a virtual version of an onsite event as either a failsafe or an intenonal hybrid event. This agility is crucial for our customers' success in reimagining their business models.
The Rise of Virtual and Hybrid Events
Online events and hybrid events offer new opportunies to engage with aendees and diversify business. The digital space gives us new tools every day for communicang and can pull down tradional barriers to engagement. The digital space gives us new opportunies to offer greater value and can increase revenues and profit margins. But oen the tools we use to digitalise events have been a disconnected jumble of paral soluons that don't actually solve anything and struggle to provide real value. For organisers and venues, these tools can present real headaches if they can't connect easily with key business systems.
Hybrid events let us offer immersive combinaons of online-only sessions, live streams, survey apps, and social media e-ins all alongside onsite meengs, marketplaces, exhibion halls, and seminars. Yet we oen combine them in ways that fail to fully connect the digital audience with the physical experience.
We cannot just sck a webcam in an exhibion hall and provide a bug-riddled app and call that a hybrid event. That's a quick way to get a lot of disengagement.
The new era of events requires the physical and digital world to unify in meaningful ways. Venues need to work hand-in-hand with technology providers to bring the onsite experience to remote aendees and offer organisers innovave soluons to produce top class content to facilitate engagement with and between aendees, no maer where they aend the event from. These measures can reduce costs to parcipate and to facilitate. They can increase engagement and market presence. They can increase value on all sides.
For aendees, the biggest benefit is oen a lowered cost to parcipate. Offering digital opons also can build on that savings by leng aendees go at their own pace. Using recordings and other connuous engagement tools furthers learning and can even alleviate #FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) by allowing them to watch every session instead of only what fits in a conference day. Virtual plaorms offer new ways to network with other aendees and integrate matching technologies in a meaningful way. They let your audience harness the relave anonymity of a digital presence to set aside any anxiees about aending an event solo and engage fully in the experience.
For event venues and organisers, virtual and hybrid events can extend our market reach and open to whole brand-new markets. Digital tools allow us to completely tailor access and pricing to meet the needs of our business and our audience. We can offer new perks to our exhibitors, presenters, and aendees. The deep analycs, lead capture, and networking ulies Ungerboeck can now offer just could not happen in an onsiteonly model. We also can create inclusive events with readily available assisve technologies. We can even leverage internaonal partnerships with other venues to hold conferences at the same me in different parts of the world to avoid internaonal travel for parcipants. Virtual components allow more people to access our onsite events when they were otherwise inaccessible before. Ungerboeck has seized this opportunity to increase investment value for our customers by providing unified tools to plan and execute virtual and hybrid events. Our Virtual Events Extension lets our customers convert their exisng Ungerboeck tools to handle the nuances of virtual event components.
We can unify their session planning, registraon, markeng, aendee management, virtual delivery, parcipant engagement, billing, and analycs in a single system. Our tools let them produce a huge range of virtual event components from a simple live stream to a webinar to a mul-track conference to a full-on virtual tradeshow. Vitally, we give them the tools to add value to the experience of their parcipants whether its hosng ongoing content, presenng natural engagement opportunies, creang virtual networking systems, offering integrated lead capture, or providing unparalleled analycs.
The future of events is a smarter hybrid model. We have the technology to fully unify experiences across the physical venue and the virtual plaorm. We also have the responsibility to our industry to create a new standard for hybrid event experiences How much of these events are online vs. onsite will depend on various factors. For the next 12 to 18 months, event organisers and venues will need to be more agile and flexible than ever. Event formats may quickly shi from onsite to hybrid or virtual, and venues need to think how they can facilitate that transion to support their customers.
We have the technology to fully unify experiences across the physical venue and the virtual plaorm. We also have the responsibility to our industry to create a new standard for hybrid event experiences. The boom line is that by offering both digital and physical opons makes you a leader in the field.
Above: The lifecycle of your 1 – 3 day event is a six month marketing cycle, from preevent, to during the event, to post event. Continuous engagement is crucial even after the event, to keep your event at the forefront of their minds.
Exclusive Interview With Phil Chung, CEO Of KINEXIN Convenon Management Pvt Ltd. (IICC Operang Company)
ES. Please share with us your professional journey. What have been the major milestones and most amazing achievements and moments in your exhibion industry career? Phil. I started my career as an internaonal markeng coordinator in an internaonal tradeshow and conference organizing company in 2001 aer finishing my mandatory military service in Korea. I ended up moving to New York to learn IT and soware markeng and later worked as a naonal sales and markeng coordinator in a “ IamhopingaVshapedgrowth Manhaan-based sow company. are patternafterthecrisis. Aseveryoneknows, Interesngly, it was at this me in ourindustryis New York that I got to know more undertakingR&Din about India and Indian food, as I areassuchasvirtual was interacng with not a few Indian soware developers from New Delhi! I remember I even conferencingformats, virtualshows, andsoasked the company to hire my calledun-tactevents, close Indian-American friends as soware developer interns. amongothers. “ I helped them market and sell search engine markeng services and related web-funconalies of many kinds while there. In fact, the company where I worked also launched operaons in Bangalore at the me. Aer returning to Korea in 2004, I began working for KINTEX, Korea's largest internaonal exhibion and convenon venues, where I was one of the founding members. Since that me, we have opened three venues In addion to KINTEX 1 & 2, and currently operate and manage four venues, one of which is IICC in Dwarka, New Delhi(now the construcon's about 70% complete). During my career at KINTEX, where I sll hold the posion of General Director, I have been quite successful in the areas of internaonal business development and venue markeng and sales. I have worked with numerous global tradeshow and convenon organizers and helped them launch new operaons, new shows, and conferences (somemes via a joint venture) in Korea. I have also promoted our venue on a global scale. There have been countless strategic naonal and internaonal business projects that I have either iniated or was proacvely involved with.
One such project was iniang and establishing the naon's largest venue catering business with the Hanhwa Group, one of the largest Korean conglomerates, as a 50:50 joint venture within the KINTEX venue. As an acknowledgment of my dedicaon, both KINTEX and myself were nominated as one of the Top 4 finalists for the UFI Markeng Award 2013 (*K Formula), while in 2019, KINTEX received the UFI Markeng Award (*Influencer Markeng for the KINTEX gaming show). In 2018, through a professional feasibility study
and thorough preparaon, KINTEX won the bid to operate the India Internaonal Convenon & Expo Centre (www.iiccnewdelhi.com). This achievement was ignited by the strong willingness of my Chairman, Chang Yuel Lim (KINTEX President) to explore the Indian market starng from that project. As a well-known Korean polician and businessman, he served the naon as a former deputy prime minister, minister of several government ministries, and as a former execuve director at the Internaonal Money Fund and the World Bank.
Interesngly, the KINTEX project was also iniated by Chairman Lim in the late 1990s during his tenure as the governor of Gyeonggi Province, Korea's most populous province, and home to Samsung Electronics and several other global companies. Aer winning the IICC bid, I was appointed as MD & Acng CEO of the IICC Operang Company, a joint venture between KINTEX, the lead member of the consorum, and Messe Esang, Korea's largest tradeshow organizer and listed on the KOSDAQ exchange. In brief, this is how I got involved with the India IICC project.
ES. Please give us an update about IICC construcon and its compleon Phil. IICC construcon: According to IICC Limited under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India, our current construcon progress stands at about 70% compleon due to a more than 6 month-long stoppage caused by Covid-19 and the bad air of New Delhi. Although the site looks robust, it should have been completed by now when referring to the original plan. That said, however, the current Covid-19 situaon represents a good opportunity for us all to interact with many Indian and global industry colleagues to develop our future plans. I am quite busy with them now both in Korea and India. “ The IICC (India Internaonal Co nvenon
& Expo Centre) is a smart city project being driven by Government of India.
With a total area of 300,000 sqmt, IICC is
India’s largest convenon and exhibion
complex. ” ES. How is the trade show industry reopening in Korea. Please update us? Phil. In my mother country, Korea, exhibions were never put on hold in a compulsory manner. The government did once issue a recommendaon to postpone a few events, but government events are not frequently held at present in light of the pandemic. Korea's Covid-19 rate has plummeted to a reassuring level so all previously scheduled tradeshows, events, and exhibions at KINTEX have taken place since May 1 st . As you have been watching my updates on social media, shows held in KINTEX have become robust again and are aracng tens of thousands of people who know how to protect themselves by abiding by our venue rules and regulaons on hygiene. I have already distributed our well-wrien prevenve measures taken on site with real photos taken during our recent shows and conferences to the Indian exhibion industry and beyond through UFI, ICCA, our New Delhi NCR MICE Forum, and several other MICE related associaons as a sign of our dedicaon to the successful efforts hoping India overcomes the crisis as soon as possible. If more Indian associaons wish to receive those materials once more, they can contact us or Raghav, the publisher of this magazine.
ES. What can be the recovery guide for tradeshows? Phil. WHO, the government of India, and other naonal organizaons are developing SOPs to prepare for a resumpon as far as I know. These documents are in need of constant updates. Abiding by their recommendaons on social distancing (between people, between chairs, etc.), proper mask wearing and changing, as well as several body temperature checks when entering the venue and show halls, are considered important when you plan to resume shows in India or elsewhere for that maer. For venues, KINTEX case studies and manuals can be of some help as we have already experienced many different scenarios. Of course, venues and organizers should share the burden of such preparaon in regard to resuming the shows; venues can provide some strategic discounts to organizers and organizers can prepare more hygiene-related procedures on site, while the venue should prepare its own digital and physical measures on its rules and regulaons.
All venue contractors should develop their own prevenve measures under the venue's basic guidelines to protect our mutual customers. If venues could allow organizers to use addional space for free, let's say, for the purpose of providing a more spacious area for exhibion registraons in expo halls, etc., such measures are a good way to keep people maintain sufficient distance during this pandemic season. Through the New Delhi NCR MICE Forum, I have also recommended to organizer members the idea of an 'invitaon-only style B2B show' at which they can keep all the possible social distancing norms to be distributed during their pre-show markeng period and invite buyers and visitors on an invitaon-only basis or pre-registered visitors-only basis, at least for the me being. Such a show would make things less stressful while running the show with a relevant level of quality visitor traffic during the Coivd-19 pandemic.
ES. What is the silver lining of this pandemic? Phil. Stocks are going up as businesspeople are looking for more avenues for investment, as is being witnessed in the USA or South Korea. It is my belief that Indian stocks will also be stable, as they are working closely with those key countries. The current controversial US-China relaonship may also be some posive momentum to India in many aspects. An upward trend will eventually help companies overcome liquidity
maers and R&D investment challenges, and help businesses become acve again right aer the pandemic. I am hoping a V-shaped growth paern aer the crisis. As everyone knows, our industry is undertaking R&D in areas such as virtual conferencing formats, virtual shows, and so-called un-tact events, among others.
In Korea, people have now started going to deluxe hotels rather than going outside of the naon during this pandemic period. With no special travel bans, they are travelling everywhere while maintaining social distancing and recommended hygiene norms of all types, efforts which have been quite successful. I IICC Dwarka (Construction in progress) do believe India is going to be the same soon. causes vergo due to the slow and unsasfying level of Internet However, abiding by all possible government recommendaons connecvity and less-than-impeccable augmented technology, or on hygiene is mandatory, even among family members. We make them visit and study virtual booths online for a long me, should keep in mind that the exhibion and convenon industry this will never feel as refreshing as aending a physical show. have been developing over the last several centuries, and that we They will never be able to concentrate completely on each and have overcome numerous pandemics during that me. Therefore, every booth, which may end up with a promise to meet up this will not be an excepon. We will overcome Covid-19 soon, as physically someme soon to discuss the “real thing” in person. I am hearing good news regarding a vaccine from the United We all know that. States, Korea, and European countries. This is just a maer of me. In the meanme, we should develop beer and more However, through this crisis, organizers and venues can try to future-oriented business plans across a broader spectrum. These develop many good mobile, online, and so-called *un-tact would also be my suggesons to entrepreneurs facing the soluons which can enable people living in remote countries to stresses of the pandemic, as well as my message to the industry. connect to our shows held in a country like India. It is the right ES. What is your take on virtual events? markeng strategies that can be helpful and informave to show Phil. To cut a very long story short, at this stage of development, aendees. You can use smart glasses during a tradeshow to send if I could say based on our internal surveys and cumulave relevant informaon to overseas buyers and communicate real- feedback from virtual event parcipants from Korea, USA, Japan me with them while answering their queries from a first-person and India, virtual events can be considered good supplementary point of view, as is being tested here in Korea at KINTEX. You can measures to our exisng shows and meengs, but not a soluon also use hologram technology or video-conferencing technologies which replaces physical exhibions. In many countries, going to to have VIP internaonal guests “take part” in conferences as an exhibion itself is a refreshing business development opposed to spending a lot on assisng their unnecessary travel experience for many. Although I do not wholly agree, some say for some me to supplement the upcoming tradeshows to be that exhibions are a part of business tourism, and countries like held within this year. Korea, Japan, Singapore, or Hong Kong are giving financial me to develop pre-show, at-show, and post-show on-line incenves to such travelling exhibions when held in their ES. What is your outlook towards India and its exhibion countries, as they are considered to boost the local tourism industry? industry. Phil. Promising. There is no need to explain any further as I have been explaining over and over again on so many occasions. All of It goes without saying that no one thinks seeing the Lotus Garden India's industries will rise again aer this pandemic period. I hope in Delhi through virtual reality can match the actual experience of the Digital India policy represents a good example to cope with experiencing it firsthand. Humans by insnct need tacle Covid-19 and grow the country's digital tech sector through this experiences; they wish to travel to see the site, feel the weight of un-tact period. Recent tension between the United States and machinery, hear real sounds, witness the appropriateness of the China could represent a posive sign for India as many global actual designs, and witness the feedback of others via real touch. manufacturing and R&D bases are moving toward India as an They wish to get out of their offices to get some fresh air and see alternave to China and as a promising land of new different people, experience various cuisines, hear pleasant opportunies. The Indian MICE industry and our IICC venue will noises, and listen to music from the show floor. If their employers surely play an important role in welcoming new opportunies just start pushing them to log into a dizzy virtual show which which showcase all of India's capabilies to both India and the world beyond.
ES. Please share with us some excerpts from your recently published book? Please share some highlights of your career in army and your war days. Richard Erschik. I was an everyday kid, living an everyday life, in the everyday world of the tumultuous 1960’s unl Uncle Sam came calling. I was inducted (draed into the military at age 20 and served 2-years in the Army on acve duty. My recent book is a story about my me served. It’s available on Amazon.com. I went from Chicago, IL, to Ft. Knox, KY, to Ft. Hood, TX, where I was assigned to the largest weapon system in the United States Army. Simply named – Honest John, which was a nuclear capable rocket that traveled 2-mes the speed of sound. In the 1960’s that was quite impressive. I adapted quite quickly and well to the military. Along with hand to hand combat and extraordinary weapon proficiency, my shiny boots were partly responsible for my promoon to SGT E5 and the rank of a NonCommissioned Officer.
ES. As an expert in exhibion industry what subjects/iniaves are close to your heart which you are closely advocang? Richard Erschik. There are many reasons to exhibit in a trade show. But the most important reason is to generate sales leads that eventually result in SALES and the Return On Investment (ROI) necessary to offset the cost of exhibing. In my company (that I sold in 2009) I developed a way to generate a posive ROI and was teaching it to exhibitors before COVID-19. Trade show organizers around the world (Including IMTMA) hired me to present an educaon and training webinar to their exhibitors. All that has come to a halt as my business was paralyzed from COVID-19.
ES. What are the main acvies of your business these days? Richard Erschik. Just because trade show organizers and their shows have been stopped by COVID-19, it’s not to say exhibitors have stopped markeng and selling. Therefore, I now work with exhibitors (directly) and teach them how to conduct their own Online Trade Show. Or, I do it for them. Why wouldn’t they? They can do it at much less cost than a tradional trade show. They have beer names for aendance than any trade show organizer could muster. And they get the opon of me managing it for them, or me showing them how they can do it themselves.
ES. How is the trade show industry reopening in USA. Please update us? Richard Erschik. Very slowly and with cauous opmism. I feel that ‘aendee’ behavior will control the pace of any return to normalcy (if there ever will be.)
In Conversaon With Richard Erschik, Presenter, Exhibitor Training Webinar
“I was an exhibitor for 20+ years in the metalworking industry where I discovered the pervasive problem of lead follow-up aer a trade show. I solved the problem with a very praccal soluon. At the me, I was also the chairman of the Naonal Machine Tool Builders Associaon (now AMT) and showed my soluon to my commiee members. When they too admied they had the same problem it gave me the idea to start a business that would provide the soluon to other companies. So in 1986, I founded and managed (unl 2009) a naonal trade show markeng services organizaon that American Airlines named ‘One of the most innovave companies in the country,’ and a ‘Best Pracce’ in trade show markeng.” My company processed more than 1 million trade show generated sales leads for other exhibing companies, and my company generated more that $10 million dollars in sales. In 2009 I sold the company to one of its customers, and I began teaching the sales lead response and management process that I developed.”
Aendees have to be comfortable riding in strange cars, flying on crowded planes, sleeping in hotel beds, eang at restaurants, registering at a show, walking the show floor, talking to exhibitors, and repeang all that to return home. Spouses and family concerns for bread-winner safety is a major deterrent to travel and company management is geng comfortable with their employees working from home and online. I’m not sure about India, but as I’m tying this I am sll sheltered in my home and fearful of going anywhere. I’m sure that translates into fear-oftravel for prospecve trade show aendees, not to even menon exhibitors.
ES. Please share with us your take on this situaon and its effects on the exhibion industry in USA? Richard Erschik. Trade show organizers once enjoyed a revenue and profit stream that has disappeared almost overnight. I can’t speak from organizer experience but I’m sure they are now looking to replace that model. Personally, I think it’s gone forever and downsizing will be their new normal.
ES. What do you see the roadmap ahead for the exhibion industry? Richard Erschik. I see exhibitors looking for, and finding, other goto-market methods to replace tradional face-to-face markeng. I have one that I developed and will be introducing very soon. It sll does everything a trade show does, but at a fracon of the cost. Pre show markeng invites prospects to the online show. During show presentaons idenfy and qualify potenal customers. And Post show follow-up produces sales results and maximizes ROI.
ES. What can be the recovery guide for tradeshows? Richard Erschik. I don’t see recovery to normalcy. Instead, I see more of an effort to salvage whatever can be used from the old model, to try to establish a new normal. Consequently, the word ‘hybrid’ has crept into the industry. I’ve seen a few photos of today’s trade show model with social distancing in front of registraon areas and people stacked in long lines. Everyone on the show floor was wearing masks and spaced in the aisles per the new protocol. People will remember what it was, and no doubt cricize what it is. I wouldn’t want to be an organizer today trying to sasfy everyone’s expectaons.
ES. What do you see as the upcoming trends? Richard Erschik. An aempt at virtual shows, only to eventually realize that poor aendance and engagement will discourage exhibitors and force them elsewhere. I see many organizers trying to duplicate the on-site experience on-line. They have reproducon so of aisles, booths, floor to ceiling pillars, even carpet. To me, as an exhibitor, all I’d want is a forum that brings buyer and seller together and a way to facilitate the process of telling and selling.
ES. What is the silver lining of this pandemic? Richard Erschik. Creavity. Forced innovaon. Changes that were desperately needed to benefit exhibitors. It has forced crical thinking and more focus on exhibitor needs instead of organizer wants.
ES. What do you suggest to entrepreneurs who are facing stress in these mes? Richard Erschik. Ideas are plenful, while those who can implement ideas are rare. Step back and get a different perspecve. Don’t look to repair, but replace. What has been effected by COVID-19?. I came up with an idea in 1986 and turned it into a $10 million dollar business. There isn’t anyone reading this that can’t do the same thing. Opportunies are all around aer COVID-19. Look for them.
ES. What is your take on virtual events? Richard Erschik. As I previously menoned, virtual and hybrid shows will be an interim soluon. Exhibitors will eventually realize that poor aendance and engagement will be discouraging and force them elsewhere.” As you have been an exhibitor, yourself, please take us into the mind of an exhibitor in these mes “I always think like an exhibitor. I would be looking to save myself and make myself relevant by being part of the soluon, rather than part of the problem. at this crisis hour as an exhibitor. Trade shows are simply a means to an end. The end being SALES. There are other was to put buyers and sellers together, which I will be introducing to exhibitors very soon.
ES. Would you like to parcipate in shows going ahead or you would rather spend your money in markeng elsewhere? Richard Erschik. Yes shows. But not tradional shows.
ES. How do you see travel gradually opening up and what are your suggesons in this regard? Richard Erschik. People here are very reluctant to travel. Airline pricing incenves and safely assurance will bring travelers back, slowly. Aer more than 2 million miles, I for one, am in no hurry to travel. Especially with on-line alternaves to in-person meengs.
ES. Which regions do you feel will pick up first and by when? Richard Erschik. Here, everything is being managed locally, and by regions of the most and fewest cases of COVID-19. Those with the least will pick up first.
ES. What is your outlook towards India and its exhibion industry? Richard Erschik. From those I talk to, there, the situaon is very similar to the USA – so most of my comments also apply to India.
ES. Your message to the industry? Richard Erschik. With my exhibitor hat on I’d say the mes of organizers overcharging exhibitors for services is gone. “With my service company owner’s hat on, I’ll say, I can’t wait to show the industry what I have as an alternave to tradionally expensive trade shows.
In Conversaon With Sanjoy Roy, Immediate Past President, Event And Entertainment Management Associaon (EEMA)
ES. As the Outgoing President of EEMA who took EEMA to new heights, you leave behind very big shoes to fill in. Could you share with us the major achievements of EEMA under your leadership? Sanjoy. On taking over EEMA I had defined the need of the hour as; 1. Increase our membership 2. Be Inclusive and work to bring on board regional associaons 3. Work on major policy issues including: 4. One window clearance 5. Standardisaon of tenders 6. Establish EEMA as a policy and business body for the Creave sector and events and entertainment 7. Work towards being seen as an industry 8. Help members relook at their business given the economic situaon 9. Bring EEMA's voice to government.
While a few of these were realised, we did take steps to lead toward the larger goals.
ES. Please look back to your tenure as EEMA President and share with us some throwback moments? Sanjoy. Our legacy will include;
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Ÿ The Michael menezes scholarships The MOU's we signed with academic instuons to upskill their own students and provide opportunies for those wishing to join this profession Move from the organisaon being one that looked at networking opportunity, events and celebraons to policy and business We created an effecve health and Safety Protocol Entertainers manual Signed an MOU with the Nani Palkhivala centre for arbitraon Look at legal issues around IP's etc Tried to find more ways to benefit our members, including increasing the very value of their membership. A successful EEMAX, EEMAGINE and a series of other events.
All of this was a collecve effort and not necessarily done by me but by Team EEMA and my NEC colleagues.
ES. If you would like to menon 3 biggest learnings which you got as EEMA President, what would they be? Sanjoy. Democracy is a messy business. Elecons don't necessarily throw up the result you wish but it certainly allows for representaon and parcipaon. 1. As President one has to carry all your colleagues with you.
2. You have to speak with one voice at the head table to be heard and seen and you should do it without fear but with strategy and considered thought.
ES. We are eager to know how did EEMA elecons take place during these mes? What was the process followed? Sanjoy. This was the first me that the Presidents post was contested for in EEMA. Since 2018 there has been a concentrated effort to streamline our elecons and make them efficient, transparent and run it as best pracce. An external Chief Elecon Commissioner was appointed along with 4 elecon commiee members from EEMA. They worked closely to monitor the process, the campaign and the vong methodology which has been conducted online. The votes were by secret ballot and audited by Deloie.
ES. What do you see the roadmap ahead for the events industry? Sanjoy. I see an opportunity to reboot, reinvent, innovate and
acvate. In mes of crisis you can either lock yourself up or examine the situaon in a pragmac way and lead from the front! While the world has changed for ever yet agin (the last me for 9/11 ), we are well poised to take up the gauntlet using AR/ VR and the new physical distancing protocol to find effecve soluons. Responsible consumpon is the need of the hour. An effort to conserve the environment, create a beer world for the next generaons is vital. Big does not need to get bigger. Niche events, occasions could have a higher value and make for more empathec exchange of energy. Humans are resilient beings and will invariably find soluons to adapt to the present reality.
ES. Since travel is a key element for events, how do you see the scenario ahead? Sanjoy. Difficult. Travel of yore has mostly ceased. The earliest event or leisure travel will restart is 2021 2/3rd quarter. Local is the new global.
This to presents infinite opportunies to create new paradigms and eke out new business opportunies and idenfy new talent.
ES. What can be the recovery guide for events sector? Sanjoy. The events and entertainment sector will be amongst the first to bounce back. When is the trillion dollar queson. Arts and entertainment consumpon has gone up 47% since the pandemic. This is good news. The unanswered queson is where is the money? Will there be funding/ ckets/ donaons for online events.
ES. What do you see as the upcoming trends of your sector? Sanjoy. Niche events Bouque weddings Online conferences Growth of AR/ VR/ AI to create an immersive environment Growth of chartered flights and rental of bouque islands
ES. Is there any silver lining in this pandemic for the industry? Sanjoy. Absolutely! An opportunity to think innovavely To convert juggad from make do to make possible To be market leaders in this sector To leverage our diversity and creavity
ES. What do you suggest to entrepreneurs who are facing stress in these mes? Sanjoy. Hunker down for the long haul Don't panic Conserve cash intelligently Provide for your eco system Innovate innovate innovate
ES. Your 3 takes on how to cope in these mes? Sanjoy. Carry your team Lead from the front Address mental health issues
ES. What will be the future of events Sanjoy. In the short term a mix of digital and smaller live gatherings In the long term use of AI/AR/VR to create a combinaon of online and physical programs and events
ES. How do you see tourism gradually opening up and what are your suggesons in this regard? Sanjoy. A much needed correcon has kicked in. Safety protocol was being breached in every context in PCE (pre covid era). Hospitality and Tourism was seen as an automac money maker with scant regard to experience, return customers, unique memory. Post Covid every traveller will be sought aer / looked to and celebrated – every occasion will need to be special. Even as hotel and airlines open up the opportunies for India will begin to improve but this will depend on; Ÿ Our connued response to Covid Ÿ Creang beer infrastructure for tourism Ÿ Correcon in world wide rates
ES. Your message to the industry? Sanjoy. There is a crises we are in the midst of. This is a me to band together, work together across sectors, provide soluons and prove opportunies. Its about people, about responsibility and above all about respect, empathy and collecve posive acon.
In Conversaon With Aakash Dhote, Founder & CEO, Blue Apple Digimedia
for us, because we were appreciated by one of the leading Exhibion & Events Industry giant. During the Covid-19 lockdown as well we made sure to stay movated, and in that purview we created a video along with Exhibion Showcase “ –The Song for Solidarity for the Exhibion and Convenon Industry”. This video was highly appreciated and shared and it helped bond the exhibion industry during these trying mes.
ES. Please share with us the legacy of Blue Apple. How did it come into existence and why did you choose this field? Aakash. The zeal to progress and the dream to create films and photographs which narrates stories led to the formaon of Blue Apple. It started off as a college project, ES. Hello Aakash! You are one bright, talented and passionate youngster in the industry. Please share with us your professional journey. What have been the major milestones in your MICE industry career so far? Aakash. Blue Apple Digimedia is one name synonymous with Exhibions & Tradefairs. We are dedicated into weaving stories, dreams, emoons, relaons and responsibilies through our Event Photography and Film-making. We started off in Mumbai, gradually marking our presence in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Noida. Today individuals, families, Corporates, big organisaons; all trust us for sleek & sophiscated Photography and Cinematography soluons at all levels – local, regional, naonal and internaonal. Led by passionate and uber progressive team, we believe in breathing life in the work that we create. We focus on capturing the emoons of the people involved in the shows, the togetherness of a sector and how they connect with each other under “ inially I would take projects on freelancing nd basis. But by the end of the 2 year of college, I already had a fully funconing office space to work. Our major break came, when we started working with RPG enterprises and group companies, which was one of our first clients. There was no looking back aer that. The legacy that we maintain and would pass on is, always working with a straight forward philosophy - "providing quality media soluons, efficiently" which has served us well in becoming a one-stop soluon for any kind of digital producon related services for the Exhibion & Conferences Sector. We chose this field because we understood how important this industry is when it comes to contribung to our economy, and we really just wanted to make sure it gets the quality media coverage it deserves. Over the years it has There have been some really important moments and some amazing achievements in our journey with the exhibion & event industry over the years. The IHFF one roof ” made its place in India's Top 10 media service provider for Trade Fair & Exhibions. We have a created a niche for ourselves in the Event Media Producon. 2019 video that we made for ABEC was a game changer. It was on par with the Internaonal Olympiad video. The video was shared by everyone on digital plaorms, which gave it momentum and was equally appreciated by all the body-building and fitness fraternity. Thanks to Mr. Manish Gandhi and Mr. Sumit Gandhi, and the enre ABEC team for the opportunity and the support they provided. ES. What are your major offerings and how do you differenate them from others in similar domain? Aakash. Our major offerings are primarily Photography and Videography services. But we don't just offer that, we provide our clients with much more. From on-day live edits, post-show videos, Event promo videos to live feed display, Social Media Live Streaming & Tesmonial Shoots; all are a part of our One major milestone for us as an organizaon, came when we were presented with the 'Most Valued Partner 'award by Messe München India. That was one of the most overwhelming moment comprehensive package that we provide to our clients. We were actually the first ones to provide the service of 'on-day live edit' of the show - a small video capsule of the day's acvies which
can be displayed on LED screens during the Event. What differenates us from the service providers in the similar domain, is the quality of work that we provide to our clients, and the flexibility of a client-agency relaonship. We never compromise on the quality of work, be it a big or small project. And we work hard to deliver superiority in our content through constant innovaon in the process. ES. What is the secret of creang a good video capsule that you and your team follow? Aakash. There isn't a secret per se, but we do know the emoonal engagement an Organizer has with a parcular Event and we want to make sure that it is portrayed through our work. We don't just shoot photos and videos, we create films that capture the essence of the Event. We focus on capturing the emoons of the people involved in the shows, the togetherness of a sector and how they connect with each other under one roof. That's what makes the content more connecng with the viewers. We understand our organizers needs and their offerings to the clients, and thereby we try our best to communicate the crux of the show. We create content that is more engaging and show a lot of acvies in a short span of me. ES. What have been your biggest learnings from this industry? Aakash. Two words – Composure and Exposure. We learned that presence of mind is very important when you're doing any job in the Events and Exhibion Industry, especially when you're doing media coverage. This has been a key learning from the years of work in this field and one can say we've mastered composure. The second thing that we have learnt comes from the exposure that we have had to the varied facets of business through the Events and Exhibions that we have done. We have interacted with stakeholders from industries like Building & Construcon, Food, Architecture, Travel & Tourism, to industries such as Logiscs, Technology, Pharma, Packaging and many more. This has helped me and my team develop ourselves in many ways, and we don't just apply it in our work, but we use it in our daily lives. ES. Please share with us your take on this situaon and its effects on your business. Aakash. We were equally impacted as any other event and exhibion company as we were majorly revolving around the same ecosystem. Many of our projects were shelved or postponed. But we decided to stay strong during this unprecedented situaon. We made sure that we kept in touch with all our clients and showed our uncondional support to them. We tried to innovate in every way possible to meet the changing needs of our clients. We created personalised promoonal content for all our clients. All of this, while keeping in mind the health of our team members.
ES. How have you evolved your business model during these mes? Aakash. With the ongoing scenario, we were immediately sure about the boom which the digital sector was going through. We realised how important of a role it is going to play in the upcoming months, so we came up with 'The Webinar Studio', a post-webinar service specially to visualise and design webinars in a polished way. We started creang content which made it easy to grab the aenon of the audience on digital plaorms. Another diversificaon that we have added, is our venture into the world of Weddings. Earlier this year, we captured my wedding and we realised how melessly valuable that moment was; so we came up with “Blue Apple Weddings”, so that anyone who wishes to have their valuable moments turned into their very own film, could just do so by reaching out to us. To underline our evoluon in one word during these mes, I would say, it is all because of our resilience.
ES. What is your take on virtual events and the role of technology going forward? Aakash. The technology is already flourishing at a top speed and it is astonishing for us to see that the Events and Exhibion Industry has adapted to the “new normal”. Informa Markets were the first to start with Virtual Expos and we are very grateful to them for giving us the opportunity to make promoonal videos for their organisaon. We are, for sure going to be totally adept with the new technology by the end of the pandemic and learning always comes in handy. Going forward, as much as the Virtual space has given us the opportunity to walk instead of just sit in our homes in the contemporary mes, what I'd really like to see is, us run. Running forward and moving past this phase in a healthy environment. Because we're humans and we cannot go longer without human interacon. And that's what this Industry is all about. Bringing different people, different perspecves and personas under one roof, celebrang innovaon and welcoming new ideas.