On September 21, 2021, World Trade Center Moscow together with the Congress and Exhibition Activities Member Advisory Council (MAC) of World Trade Center Moscow held an international webinar as part of the MACs meeting.
This event was dedicated to the issues of congress and exhibition activities within the WTCA and partner companies, and became the third this year in a series of quarterly events of the WTCA MAC for congress and exhibition in the Europe, Middle East and North Africa regions (WTCA C&E EMEA MAC), headed by WTC Moscow.
Mr. Rupert Owen, General Director of Exhibition Consultants LTD, Montgomery Group (London, UK) presented “The Current State of the Convention and Exhibition Industry in the World” report for the international audience.
Mr. Rupert Owen touched on the activities in the context of COVID-19 “The period is very difficult. Our first event in 598 days was organized by us in London two weeks ago, and last week we hosted an exhibition in Lagos, Nigeria. In addition to the Singapore event and the Hong Kong contemporary art show, 98 events have been rescheduled over the past 2 years. ”
The structure of the meeting and exhibition industry along with the respective threats to these sectors were presented. Rupert Owen commented on the situation with municipal trade fairs and fairgrounds: “Germany is the first country that comes to mind when it comes to large exhibition space and a large number of employees. Central and regional governments have shown generosity to these companies, but it will take several years for some of the truly global events to return to their former scale ... if they ever manage to return at all. "
The expert also spoke about the events held by the GSMA and IBC associations (two technology sector associations - mobile and broadcast / communications industries). While these associations receive great incentives from their host cities (in this case Barcelona and Amsterdam, respectively), they have high overhead and staff costs.
On the Russian side, the webinar was attended by representatives of exhibition complexes (VDNKh and Expocentre), members of the RF CCI committee for exhibition, fair and congress activities, heads of consulting companies, members of industry associations and media representatives.
About the MAC:
WTCA C&E EMEA MAC brings together the region's WTCs that provide services in the field of conferences, exhibitions, fairs and have infrastructure facilities for such events.
The main function of the MAC is the Global Forum function (an international platform for professional dialogue). During the lockdown of 2020, the Council has set itself the goal of initiating, maintaining and developing a professional dialogue both between the members of the Council (World Trade Centers within the Association) and between their partners (event organizers, developers, MICE agencies, congress real estate developers, etc.). Such a dialogue was intensified during the general slowdown of congress activities, the reorientation of areas for medical needs in the cities of the WTCA presence and the joint development of a plan to overcome the pandemic.