As we saw with the Egyptian uprising last month, crises can escalate very quickly. For the chairman of the Egypt Expo and Convention Authority, Sherif Salem, the surprise was very real. In Egypt at least, nobody expected the situation to explode.
“The protests took everybody both in Egypt and abroad by great surprise, and nobody knew what would happen,” he says. “The escalation brought society to a standstill, with banks and shops closed and traffic restricted. We had to put everything on hold and wait for the outcome.”
Here, people in the exhibition industry give accounts of being forced to deal with such adverse and unpredictable situations including the Mumbai massacre, Bangkok Red Shirt protests and the less well known but hugely disruptive 2010 revolution in Kyrgyzstan.
Mumbai, 2008
Eliane van Doorn (pictured), international director of UBM Built Environment, was director of the company’s pharmaceutical and food ingredients portfolio when her job took her to Mumbai in 2008. She had just finished a press conference at the Trident hotel and was riding a taxi when she heard news of the terrorist gunmen. Two UBM Live pharmaceutical shows were on the verge of opening, CPHI and P-MEC.
“We were suddenly in crisis mode because the shooting started,” she said. “There were two hours between the Trident hotel press conference and when the shooting started so we had a little angel above our heads.”
“We spent the whole night trying to reach our participants and telling them to stay put. We didn’t know what was going on. We were in direct contact with the police and military. We decided in the middle of the night to postpone the event for one day so that meant having to reach out to 30,000 people in one night, but luckily all the telephones worked.”
“The next day we decided it was too dangerous to open so we postponed the events until a year later and refunded everyone their money. It was quite a hectic time between dealing with exhibitors and contacting [UBM chief exec] David Levin who had to make a big decision, because this would be a great loss.”
Van Doorn says one of the most important things to have is the right connections; best attained via a local office.
“UBM has a fantastic office in India and together we could make all the right decisions,” she says. “If needed, we could talk to the police and get extra security. If you are a foreign company going into a country cold, you will never have these connections.”
Van Doorn believes event organisers have the right tools to deal with the unexpected. “We are used to organising things, so in situations like that it really helps to have that quality to put everything in place, sort priorities and see what you can do. Some people were in a complete panic and screaming and crying, while others were calm and did what they had to do. But the ones screaming and crying are part of your team so you have to deal with that too.
“It’s our job to be alert in what we are doing. We had to postpone because of SARS and Katrina. We had to deal with the bombings in London and Madrid. Things can happen and you have to be alert and keep your head clear.”
Bangkok, 2010
Supawan Teerarat is director of the Exhibition Department at the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB). In 2010 protestors known as 'Red Shirts' took to the streets against the Government. More than 80 civilians and at least six soldiers were killed in the ensuing military crackdown. Although the trouble was for the most part confined to a few specific areas of Bangkok, the international press coverage discouraged organisers from bringing business there.
Singapore has since claimed a quantifiable rise in business corresponding to the unrest in Thailand.
“We set up a war room including all the stakeholders in the exhibition industry: The Thailand Hotel Association, the Police Authority, Tourism Authority, Airport Authority, customs department, venues and the Thai Exhibition Association, the private counterpart to the public TCEB,” said Teerarat. “We teamed up and discussed short-term and long-term problems. The short-term problems came from the communications in the world news, so we talked closely with the organisers and gave a statement from TCEB with an update every day. We wanted to provide as much information as possible.”
Because the international coverage of such a dramatic situation can be bad for business, TCEB concentrated its resources on broadcasting reassurance for foreign organisers that the protests were local and would not affect the internal workings of the country. “We had contact with the Thailand Hotel Association where all the exhibitors and visitors stayed, so we set up a TCEB assistance desk at hotels and airports to give information and help with the transfers,” she adds.
For organisers as well as associations, making up-to-the-minute information available is key. “You must give information updates to your exhibitors, because the big concern will be that they don’t know what is happening,” says Teerarat. If you tell them how to get to the airport and what is happening at all times they feel more secure.
“Will it be possible for you to relocate a large group of people if necessary or get them home if they want? Organisers should have that plan, especially if they have a local partner. Nowadays there are many bodies like TCEB and these bodies should be a focus point.”
As with Van Doorn, Teerarat emphasises the importance of local connections, although she recommends the approach of taking a local partnership.
Kyrgyzstan, 2010
Yuri Borodikhin, group director of ITE Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, was in Kyrgyzstan for the Tulip Revolution of 2005 and the most recent and more violent one in 2010, which resulted in the deaths of 88 people. As a result of the uprising, he had to postpone a show at the eleventh hour.
“It was a much worse situation than 2005,” he says. “There was a lot of looting and people were setting buildings on fire such as the police stations and
banks. Criminals were released on the streets and the police had all but disappeared because protesters were attacking and beating them.
It was just one week before the eighth edition of ITE's Bishkek Build, the only show ITE has in Kyrgyzstan. Some exhibitors had already sent equipment to the site.
“We were worried because March and April were such difficult times in Kyrgyzstan,” says Borodikhin. There have been demonstrations going on almost every year since 2005. “People were really disappointed with the new regime and thought it was worse than before. During the day it was just demonstrations and so on. But that night there were some beatings and it was obvious it wouldn’t settle down in time for the exhibition.
“We decided to push the back a month this time, refunding those who decided to cancel.”
The crucial thing is to communicate with the exhibitors, especially those from overseas. “We were in constant contact with our clients,” says Borodikhin. “We wanted
to avoid risking anyone’s life. Of course we hired extra security to make sure that if anything happened we could protect our clients and exhibitors from harm.
You can’t really insure against a revolution because it’s a force majeure.”
Now that a new Government has taken power, Borodikhin says organisers should act quickly to get support and permission before anything changes. “You have to react very quickly and reply for a letter of support from the new minister. You have to have some Government support and someone to come and open the show. In Kyrgyzstan by law you have to have government support from the appropriate ministry.”
The show, organised by ITE Group, its local subsidiary Iteca, and GIMA International Exhibition Group, is planned to go ahead this year on 12-14 April at the Bishkek Sports Palace. With a new coalition democracy in place, here’s hoping for a smoother ride this year.
