Image: MBPAA Member Falcon Pools
CEO Message Chris Samartzis, CEO - MPBAA The last two months have certainly highlighted how the lingering effects of Covid have disrupted businesses throughout Australia. Like many other Pool and Spa Shows around the country, the largest and most sophisticated Aquatics show in the southern hemisphere also succumbed to Omicron when cancelled in late January.
“Although difficult, we strongly believe that the ethical and responsible decision was to protect the safety and commercial interests of our exhibitors and stakeholders by cancelling Melbourne’s iconic Pool and Spa + Outdoor Living Expo.”
Although difficult, we strongly believe that the ethical and responsible decision was to protect the safety and commercial interests of our exhibitors and stakeholders by cancelling Melbourne’s iconic Pool and Spa + Outdoor Living Expo.
Many exhibitors outlined their concerns to us prior to the event and regardless of the impact the cancellation of our Expo would mean, our board felt that cancellation was the only commercially responsible option to protect all exhibitors and their staff, and importantly - consumers. It remains our belief that a one-dimensional approach to exhibitions is a false premise that cannot survive long term. Consumers need to feel engaged at a sophisticated event where there is a varied and comprehensive range of choice across the sectors of our industry. An event where the consumer is part of an all-encompassing customer experience all weekend. Anything less than this, we believe, will eventually undermine the success of such consumer lead expos and ultimately drive a downturn in attendance and along with it the success of such future events for our businesses. For those exhibitors interested in a sustainable polished event with thousands of qualified attendees who are invested in coming along and being immersed in the high-quality full-service offering, the team led by Conrad welcome your interest.
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Professionalism & Standards On another note, here at MPBAA we have been championing the need to raise standards in our industry for decades. We not only preach this, but we live it every day for others to follow. Of late we have had feedback from members concerned with the level of unethical behaviour of some builders who are not members of MPBAA but choose to solicit our members for commercial gain. We have had members approached by non-members purporting to be consumers interested in our members pricing and product range. Not only do these people drive standards down, but they also destroy consumer confidence. We take this opportunity to remind members of such behaviour and to be vigilant when approached by others regarding your pricing and any other intellectual property questions. As an organisation that champions ethical and professional behaviour, we take these incursions as serious breaches of trust. In all cases, these purveyors of intellectual property theft are not members of our association and I urge all pool and spa builders to be aware of such behaviour.
“We take this opportunity to remind members of such behaviour and to be vigilant when approached by others regarding your pricing and other intellectual property questions.”
AQUA MAGAZINE | EDITION 7 - MARCH 2022
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