AAXO NEWS

Pivoting from brain drain to brain gain

By Devi Paulsen-Abbott, vice chairperson of AAXO and vice president dmg events.

Over the past two years of exhibition and event closures, many professionals who were previously working in our industry have had no choice but to find alternative employment, or to reinvent themselves, resulting in a substantial loss of highly skilled and experienced talent.

Fast-forward to February 2022 and we are finally gearing up for the return of in-person exhibitions in South Africa, coupled with hybrid and digital offerings flourishing over the past couple of years.

The question is, are there enough people with the knowledge, skills and experience to deliver these?

Speaking to my colleagues, locally and internationally, many are finding it increasingly difficult to fill vacancies for new and existing roles and unanimously, there is a concern that there is going to be a skills gap across the entire exhibition value chain.

Although a challenge, this presents us with an opportunity for evolution and a rethink on who and what our businesses may require. In other words, preparing ourselves for reimagined roles and business models and learning from other industries. This will enable us to develop, nurture and retain the talent that has remained, but ensuring that we are making our industry accessible and attractive to young talent is also crucial.

Encouraging young people into the industry will bring renewed ideas which can certainly be of benefit to the industry. In so doing, we will have to equip them by harnessing the experience of those who remained in the industry to help and support those who are newly entering.

In addition, our industry has to look at introducing stronger focus on internship programmes, work placement opportunities and even reach out to schools/universities, encouraging young people to look to our industry for career opportunities.

As part of our remit for the coming years, AAXO will be implementing a number of initiatives to support talent already in the industry as well as the budding talent looking to embark on a career in exhibitions. This includes our career centre and mentoring partnership programme providing an opportunity to speak to professionals and to increase network opportunities, to share experiences and to learn about best practice along the way.