A call to action for change ecology The new normal

By Gill Gibbs, vice chairperson of EXSA

March 17, 2020, on a Tuesday, saw many of the Exhibition & Events Industry players convene at the Ticketpro Dome, for an urgent meeting as arranged by AAXO, to discuss the 90-day ban on allgatherings of over 100 persons – of which has a dramatic and adverse impact on our entire Industry – along withthe matter of the Industry in crisis and any potential solutions available to assist by way of financial relief and aid.

March 23, 2020, on a Monday just 5 days later, our President, Cyril Ramaphosa announced the official lockdown commencing 26 March, 2020, a Thursday in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We had a matter of a few days to wrap up our businesses and to vacate our premises and these days were a blur, between wrapping up and managing employee matters and mobilising teams to work remotely, expediting arrangements for family members and loved ones – none of us had much time to process the news.

Subsequently, the full weight of the crisis has set in and many of us have the question burning in our hearts and in our minds: What will this mean for our Industry?

With businesses shuttering around the globe and mass layoffs, the next phase of 2020 and well into 2021 seems a long way away. Our days have been filled with planning and plotting out every little detail of our business’s finances and that of our employees – just to stay afloat. From loans to financial aid, relief and reprieve, we must cobble together income and appeals for ‘payment holidays’ to make it work.

While we cannot predict the future, we all do need to future proof our businesses and what is a given, is that what we do and how we do it, 3, 6 and even 18 months from now, will not be the same as that of 6 months ago. As South Africans, we are not alone – the entire world is going to be different. It already is.

• That we are one of the most resilient and adaptable nations in the world.

• Pandemics have occurred over the many years in history and ‘lockdowns’ have been instituted to containerise the spread, flatten the curve.

• Disasters and set backs have been profound over the course of human existence and the effects widely experienced, some for many years after the fact.

• The extraordinary value that our Industry Associations bring and how they are highlighted by a crisis such as C-19, whereby banding together to meet this crisis head on in the interests of collaboration, will be one of the most important milestones we can all achieve collectively in these times of change ecology.

• Through the active EXSA Whatsapp group and email communication, EXSA has and will continue to provide factual information to all affected industry stakeholders, members or not, mentoring, support, guidance and the provision of a credible industry voice to government on behalf of all.