Brian Mulcahy
18/05/2021
Earlier this week I had an MS Teams meeting with a client in the UAE. The last time we met in person was at the Arab Health show in January of 2020, just before the pandemic. We had to conduct an annual financial review, detailed presentation of new products, logistics planning and forecasting for the year ahead, as well as coordinating marketing and regulatory activities.
In previous years this meeting would have involved a 3-day trip to Dubai, and a full day of meetings at the client HQ. This year it was all achieved with the three participants in the comfort of their offices over the course of a morning.
Many companies are re-evaluating their attitudes to business travel at this time and planning on how to deal with this issue post pandemic. My experience over the last 14 months has been that if the business and personal relationship has already been established then it can be very effectively maintained and built on with video conferencing tools. If on the other hand the participants are new to each other the face to face meeting and product presentation will still be required.
Clients are also re-evaluating the necessity of presencial trade shows in the future. Here it is clear that the virtual trade show format does not deliver the same experience. The level of engagement and focus when physically at a tradeshow is what makes them worthwhile and that has been impossible to replicate. The show organizers face a massive challenge now to avoid a downward spiral with fewer exhibitors leading to higher costs per exhibitor and a less attractive proposition for exhibitors and visitors alike. I suspect we may see some of the big shows moving to a bi-annual format to try to ensure their relevance.