The champagne will be opened, on the day when exhibitions open their doors again, ‘because it’s a long time coming,’ said one of the three speakers at Prof Martin Gill’s latest OSPAs thought leadership webinar, yesterday afternoon.
That was said by Rachael Shattock, Group Event Director at Nineteen Group, the event firm which runs the International Security Expo at London Olympia (pictured) each winter. Also speaking were Michiel Gen, the Belgium-based organiser of the annual ASIS Europe conference for the European arm of the international security management association; and George Pearson who as Regional Director at Afrocet Montgomery (which runs various events in Africa and Singapore) organises the annual Securex West Africa show.
While events like other social gatherings have not been allowed to take place in the western world since the first lockdowns in March 2020, George Pearson identified that the actual coronavirus will not be the only, or even the biggest, barrier to events re-starting that draw a global physical audience. Even if covid stabilises this year, travel restrictions and quarantines may be in place. As one of the audience, the past ASIS president Gottfried Hendriks, asked, might there be ‘vaccination passports’ required?
He, and all the speakers, believed that exhibitions will bounce back – exhibitors wanting to generate leads, and exhibitors and visitors alike wanting to socialise again – to network, including making those serendipitous face to face contacts that you otherwise wouldn’t if you stayed at home, and cannot in quite the same way if you attend a virtual event.
Michiel Gen spoke more highly of virtual events than others, who at most saw the future of exhibitions as hybrid – using some features of the digital events put on since the pandemic-forced lockdowns, with a physical conference, such as some speakers giving a talk remotely. Michiel Gen suggested that online booths, as well as physical, might drive traffic.
While Nineteen Group hopes that the 2021 International Security Expo will go ahead, on September 28 and 29, Rachel Shattock suggested there might be hybrid features. The UK Government brings international buyers and delegations to the Expo; that might be done in a ‘virtual environment’.
As for how soon events may run physically again, Michiel Gen said it may be possible – depending on format, size and vaccination programmes – for physical events to be possible in Europe in the second quarter (ASIS Europe 2021, put back from 2020, is due to run in Brussels on May 31 and June 1). Securex West Africa was due in March; it’s been put back to June.
Discussion ranged over the pros and cons of virtual events – which clearly have a place; as everyone was attending a virtual webinar!? Michiel Gen and Rachel Shattock made much the same point that they had attended, online, events that they would not have been able to in person. Michiel said that he had made contacts that he would not have otherwise; to those who feel that online events are not worthwhile, he suggested that online events required active participation and a mindset willing to make connections; and the online event had to be done right, and not try to copy a physical layout – which was a waste of screen space and only reminded people of what they weren’t getting.
Rachel Shattock expressed something common not only to security and exhibitions; that there will be a release of pent-up feeling, once people are allowed to socialise and network again. That has already been reflected – here she was seconded by George Pearson and Michiel Gen – in exhibitors mostly willing to roll their booking for a physical exhibition forward, rather than take a refund, ‘a positive sign’, George said.
Once social restrictions are lifted, as Martin Gill said, it may mean the last quarter of the year is congested with exhibitions; Rachel Shattock agreed, but added it would be a nice problem to have. As exhibitions tend to run mainly in the spring and autumn, that may mean that the annual cycle is not back to normal until 2022 or even 2023.
Asked by Martin Gill to sum up by giving the main thing that will happen to live exhibitions as a result of covid, all three anticipated more of a digital element in physical events – although as Martin Gill had mentioned earlier, no-one is saying that virtual events have taken over from face to face ones.
Next webinars
The OSPAs webinars usually run on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons; that’s different next week, as the topics are Russia and south east Asia. The 3.30pm start time resumes on Tuesday, February 2, when the subjects is the mental health of front-line security workers; and on Thursday, February 4, the security operations centre (SOC).
You can sign up to attend these free webinars at https://theospas.com/thought-leadership-webinars/. There you can listen to previous webinars; yesterday’s was the 83rd.
Meanwhile, the UK OSPAs (Outstanding Security Performance Awards) winners are announced from 3.30pm on Thursday, February 25. Visit https://uk.theospas.com/ to sign up to attend online.
