IFES Publishes Impact of COVID-19 on Exhibition and Event Services Study

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IFES Publishes Impact of COVID-19 on Exhibition and Event Services Study

11/4/2020
IFES conducted an international study on the general status quo and expectations in the exhibition and event services industry. A clear statement: In countries where there is a high-willingness to wear a mask for everyday life, trade fairs start almost half a year earlier.

Due to the postponements and cancellations of trade fair events so far, many trade fair and event service providers have got into economic difficulties. For IFES, International Federation of Exhibition and Event Services, this was the reason to ask its members worldwide and to present a comparison of effects, measures and expectations for the individual continents.

"Almost all trade fair planning for the coming months has lost its reliability: organisers, exhibitors, visitors and service providers lack any planning security. As a result, exhibitors have to rely on other distribution channels and service providers are deprived of any basis for business," says IFES Managing Director Uta Goretzky. "The extent to which the industry has been hit varies from country to country or region to region, and here it is important to gain an overview and, if necessary, learn from solutions from other regions of the world!

In Asia and Europe, for example, trade fair organisers in the USA rely 100% on hand disinfection and the wearing of masks, while only three quarters of trade fairs in the USA publish this among their exhibitors and visitors.

In Asia, 60% of the companies surveyed expect trade fairs to be able to take place as early as the first quarter of 2021. In Europe, 75% share this view from the second quarter onwards, while in the USA, three quarters of companies do not expect trade fairs to return until the third quarter of 2021.

The full results of the study can be found on the IFES website www.ifesnet.com.

The survey was conducted from 11 to 25 September 2020. A total of 86 companies participated in the survey.

What is IFES

IFES stands for the International Federation of Exhibition and Event Services. It is the international association of national associations and companies active in the fields of design, conception, production and services for exhibitions, trade fairs and events.

IFES offers a platform for international cooperation, which is achieved through networking and knowledge exchange.

Founded in 1984 - on the initiative of national associations in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the USA - IFES celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2019. The association is registered in Brussels under Belgian law.

The "global collaboration network": briefly describes IFES. But to understand what IFES is, you have to go deeper into the details. IFES represents more than 280 companies from all over the world. Each of these companies has signed the IFES Code of Conduct - a kind of constitution that regulates the cooperation within the whole network. So when an IFES partner serves the customer of another member, both the customer and the member know that they are being professionally advised and supplied by a company that meets the highest quality standards. This is a member benefit with priceless added value.

In order to increase the number of partnerships within the IFES family, the association offers several opportunities for "getting to know each other". The most prominent one is the IFES Summit, which takes place every year in June. "Summit of Inspiration" was the theme for 2019, when IFES met in the Greek capital Athens. "Winds of Change" will be the motto for the next Summit (23-25 June 2021 in Amsterdam).

The second largest opportunity is the IFES Global Village, which premiered at EuroShop in Düsseldorf in 2017 and continued at EXHIBITORLIVE in Las Vegas, now commuting between the Rhineland and the Nevada desert. Two educational programmes offered by IFES - Masterclass and Certified Expert - ensure that we have well-trained, globally-minded people at the service of our industry.

Sharing knowledge - is the basic idea of the association.

IFES AISBL, Rue de l'Amazone 2, B 1050 Brussels; www.ifesnet.org

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