[2009 trends] Elections will add impetus to events industry

We have experienced exponential growth in all five of our activation companies - exhibitions, events, audiovisual, electrical and hiring - and the successes experienced in 2008 have laid the foundation for our customers to further increase their investments next year in one-on-one customer relationship opportunities, for which our industry is an enabler.

The Nedbank Golf Challenge is just one example, where we have installed marquees where thousands of business people will meet to engage with their customers and where results can be measured immediately.

Involvement of global players

Our industry will continue to attract event investors. By way of example, we have just signed a consortium partnership with the French company GL events; a company with revenues of more than R7 billion and which manages 28 venues around the world. Having been instrumental for the infrastructure and management of cricket, soccer and rugby world cups, Olympic Games and the Euro Cup 2008, global players such as GL events will become more involved with big events in South Africa.

New exhibitions, events and conferences for 2009 are announced at regular intervals and, as in other sectors and industries, this will further challenge the local supply chain, especially when it comes to resources.

The shortage of professional workers stretches throughout all occupations, from designers and project managers to shop fitters and account management staff. Learning institutes cannot produce qualified staff fast enough and the entry of international companies will further impact on the situation. Poaching is likely to increase and a natural development from this will be financial packages that may erode margins and lead to cost escalations, which may see some companies passing this onto their customers or they may have to close their doors.

Concerned

I am concerned about the trend of "word-of-mouth" briefings as a consequence of customer workloads, multitasking and tighter deadlines. Users of exhibitions and events, as well as organisers and suppliers, will have less quality time to plan their requirements for a professional appearance. The number of shows and events are disproportionate to the availability of professional facilities, and this will further impact on the time constraints to install infrastructure between shows that are staged back-to-back at the same venues.

2009 will be especially exciting as suppliers of infrastructure will have the opportunity to become involved in the national elections, from the rallies leading up to the elections to the actual date when millions will be casting their votes. The Confederations Cup will also afford business opportunities.

As corporate business and tourism advance, the good news about South Africa as a destination is that the number of visitors to exhibitions and events will increase, which will place additional demands on venue owners to improve on facilities management and the caliber of staff. At a recent event at a well-known venue, which was attended by more than 700 employees from a corporate company, untrained workers were hired to attend to guests as waiters. It is doubtful that the company in question will use the venue again and the venue management has acted irresponsibly towards the rest of the industry.

Collective effort

To survive the market demands of 2009 will require a collective effort from all players. We have to move up a few notches in quality, innovation, infrastructure, project management and add more detail to the total scope of delivery. SA's exhibitions and events industry is now participating on a global scale - whether locally or elsewhere - and we have to ensure that we perform according to international standards so as to avoid being branded second best.

We are all members of a broad-based communication industry and I can predict that executives in the various sectors such as advertising, public relations, exhibitions, events and related marketing services will start to collaborate with a business purpose. Although our services are diversified, we can add collective value to the same customers through partnership arrangements.