When more than 200 C-level executives recently gathered at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., for the Society of Independent Show Organizers’ CEO Summit, there is one word that summed up how everyone felt being back at an in-person event: exuberance.
Exuberance that, after an incredibly challenging year in which the North American trade show industry was stopped in its tracks due to COVID-19, they were back at an event and able to share ideas, take in some great education, fun networking and see people face--- face again.
“We had just over 200 people in attendance last week, this compares to 332 in 2019, with the majority of the reduction due to the 100-plus participants we would have normally had from overseas that were unable to travel into the USA due to travel restrictions,” said David Audrain, SISO’s CEO.
He added, “The mood of the participants was frankly thrilled with being face-to-face as a group, and the networking and sharing was even more valuable than in a regular year. The content was highly rated and universally focused on moving forward as we recover and rebuild from the impacts of the Pandemic.”
Here are some key takeaways on how the organizers, ExpoDevCo, programmed a safe and engaging three-day conference:
Safety Is Everything!
SISO teamed up with Fern and its HealthCheck offering powered by ShareMy.Health. Attendees who were fully vaccinated could upload their vaccine card in the secure and HIPAA-compliant ShareMy.Health app. If someone was not fully vaccinated, they were asked to register to receive a PCR COVID-19 detection text kit that was delivered directly to them. They took the test within a few days of the event and the results were delivered into the app. They then could show their negative results upon arrival to the event.
Women’s/Small Business Conferences
Held on the first day of SISO before the opening party, both conferences serve key segments of the SISO overall audience. The majority of SISO member companies are made up of small business owners, who were hit particularly hard in the past year. The conference focused on how these small business could continue to navigate the still choppy waters and what events might look like going forward. The women’s conference featured speaker Angela Scalpello, owner and principal of the Scalpello Group. Scalpello challenged everyone to find out what the “why was that motivates their teams”.
The Way Forward
The next morning, the conference opened with its longstanding tradition of having all attendees stand up and introduce themselves. This time, though, the amazing AV team from Metro Multimedia carefully wiped down the mic and held it at arm’s length for every person as they introduced themselves. After intros, the first panel was led by outgoing SISO chair and Tarsus CEO Douglas Emslie and a panel of who’s who in the for-profit industry: Fernando Fischer, President, Americas at Reed Exhibitions; Hervé Sedky, CEO of Emerald and SISO Incoming Chair; and Nancy Walsh, President, North America - Informa Markets. Without a shadow of a doubt, all four of these industry leaders felt the trade show industry would be back and were planning on shows to be running all through the second half of 2021.
Long Live Economic Data
Anirban Basu, Chairman & CEO of the Sage Policy Group, captivated the audience from start to finish with his incredibly entertaining, fast-paced, information-packed master class on the state of the economy right now, along with current trends. Beyond talking about the pandemic’s impact on global economies, Basu also walked everyone through the flight out of cities, such as New York and San Francisco, into smaller cities like Tampa, Fla., and suburbs everywhere. As a result, home prices are soaring and commercial real estate in urban center is taking a nosedive.
Women Leadership and Diversity/Inclusion
SISO featured two important discussions that need to move forward not only in the trade show industry, but also basically most every industry. The bottom line is, and everyone agreed, that a company is truly successful when everyone has the opportunity to climb the ladder to the very top in an equitable way. In “Stop the Talking, Start the Doing,” audience members were encouraged to take actual, measurable steps forward to elevate women into senior positions. In “The Value of Diversity” panel a dynamic group of vendors from inside and outside the industry who talked about tangible ways to initiate and execute an effective DEI strategy and plan.
Advocating for the Industry
Sedky; Roger Dow, President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association and Tommy Goodwin, vice president of government affairs for Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA), detailed for the audience all of the efforts put forward to advocate on behalf of the trade show and travel industries during what has been a devastating time for both. Dow said he was meeting with key leaders in the travel industry at the White House last week to talk through opening international travel and ECA continues to push for more awareness around what’s needed to assist the restart of the trade show industry.
Robert L. Krakoff Award
A highlight of the SISO CEO Summit every year is the Robert L. Krakoff Industry Award of Excellence. This year, the recipient was long-time industry veteran Tony Calanca of Calanca & Associates. Calanca was genuinely surprised and graciously accepted the award.
Next year’s event will be held March 21-24, 2022, at The Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club in St. Petersburg, Fla.
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April 25, 2021 at 10:52PM
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