At last, some good news for exhibitors

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced exhibitions and conferences could restart from 1st October. 

It's very welcome news for businesses that rely on trade shows for sales leads and new orders. 

As your business is one that participates in exhibitions, I thought you might find it useful to know about some of the details that will enable safe event organising. 

The trade associations that serve the UK events industry have proposed safety measures widely adopted in France, Germany, Italy and other countries that host significant scale events. 

Their combined lobbying has paid off. 

Here's a short extract from details circulated last Friday.  

"Organisers, venues and suppliers have worked tirelessly to create COVID-19 safe guidelines which create the framework for the safe reopening of exhibitions in a COVID-secure way (these will be issued shortly following final government sign off). These include, but are not limited to the ability to track and trace our audiences and create bespoke events on a risk-assessed basis."

It's on this basis that test events will take place - news on which they will be will follow shortly. 

However, given measures contained in "the framework for the safe reopening of exhibitions" - sign-off for the restart should be a formality. 

The safety measures are extensive and include temperature scanning; high levels of sanitisation; track and trace protocols via exhibitor and visitor registration systems; safe distancing and one-way systems around events.  

Updating stand designs to create "Safe Stands"

When it comes to stands, there may be some design changes needed to make exhibiting safer. 

We are developing stands that require fewer team members to run them.

One-way routes around displays also feature as does a stronger emphasis on the use of graphics and digital displays to impart information. 

The objective is to create a safe display space for visitors and stand teams while enabling the vital work of lead gathering to take place. 

Later this week, I will send you a link to a page that shows how stands like those I've described look and work.

Check with your organiser to learn what's happening with your events 

Trade show organisers all around the country are now preparing for the reopening of their events.  

They will be working closely with venues to ensure that safety standards laid down by the government and enforced by local authorities are met. 

Some show floorplans may alter to meet distancing requirements, so now is a good time to contact your organiser (if you haven't heard from them already), to learn what's happening with your event and your site booking. 

It's great to be talking positively about exhibitions and events once again. 

As and when you want or need to discuss the design of a stand for an upcoming show, we would love to discuss how we might be able to help.