With the staging of EFI’s Connect convention last week it can seem that pre pandemic normality is returning, at least as far as physical events are concerned. The numbers in attendance were down and not every country was represented, but the mix of keynotes, inspirational presentations, workshops and classrooms and exhibition looked like it did in 2020 as if the last two years had not happened.
Other event organisers will now be optimistic that Fespa, Labelexpo, Packaging Innovations, Sign & Digital, and later in the year the Print Show, can proceed equally smoothly. And that the audience of exhibitors as well as visitors for these shows is not dissuaded from participating. The level of confidence is very much unknown at this point. Exhibitions are all about trust for both sides. Organisers will naturally apply all the checks that are required to make the venues as safe as possible. However, this activity cannot allay all the psychological nervousness that comes with travel and with crowds this year, let alone parties and other large scale social gatherings. Nor can the checks compensate for companies deciding that after two years of depressed sales, it may be better to hang on to a marketing budget than invest in a show where visitor numbers will be down.
In short we expect the remainder of 2022 to be marked by caution, by reduced attendances at exhibitions and by sparser aisles, at least for the first part of the year. At least until the rates of infection, of hospitalisation, of deaths have returned to long term trends. The UK Government says it is time to return to work and that we should now live with the virus. The statistics are not so sure. The Covid-19 pandemic is now a Covid-19 endemic, it says. The great unknown of course concerns the next mutation. Confidence is edging back, but it is fragile. We hope that the success of EFI’s Connect is a harbinger of good fortune for the rest of the year, but we daren’t yet count on it.
Welcome back. But let’s be careful out there
With the staging of EFI’s Connect convention last week it can seem that pre pandemic normality is returning, at least as far as physical events are concerned. The numbers in attendance were down and not every country was represented, but the mix of keynotes, inspirational presentations, workshops and classrooms and exhibition looked like it did in 2020 as if the last two years had not happened.
Other event organisers will now be optimistic that Fespa, Labelexpo, Packaging Innovations, Sign & Digital, and later in the year the Print Show, can proceed equally smoothly. And that the audience of exhibitors as well as visitors for these shows is not dissuaded from participating. The level of confidence is very much unknown at this point. Exhibitions are all about trust for both sides. Organisers will naturally apply all the checks that are required to make the venues as safe as possible. However, this activity cannot allay all the psychological nervousness that comes with travel and with crowds this year, let alone parties and other large scale social gatherings. Nor can the checks compensate for companies deciding that after two years of depressed sales, it may be better to hang on to a marketing budget than invest in a show where visitor numbers will be down.
In short we expect the remainder of 2022 to be marked by caution, by reduced attendances at exhibitions and by sparser aisles, at least for the first part of the year. At least until the rates of infection, of hospitalisation, of deaths have returned to long term trends. The UK Government says it is time to return to work and that we should now live with the virus. The statistics are not so sure. The Covid-19 pandemic is now a Covid-19 endemic, it says. The great unknown of course concerns the next mutation. Confidence is edging back, but it is fragile. We hope that the success of EFI’s Connect is a harbinger of good fortune for the rest of the year, but we daren’t yet count on it.
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