Are trade show organisers the new Marco Polos ?
VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY
My biggest passion is travelling. Not the kind of travelling to recover from the daily grind, but travelling to explore. I have to admit that it becomes more difficult to find new cultures or landscapes. We can see almost everything on Discovery Channel. Nonetheless, travelling with the right attitude remains extremely fascinating. At the beginning of the previous century Marcel Proust came up with the right attitude:
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
Travelling is very inspiring. It frees my mind of prejudice. We have seen everything but always from the same perspective. It is hard to let go of your deep-rooted thoughts, but once you look from a different standpoint, you can experience another dimension. We should always be able to broaden our view by transforming the old perception into an illusion. What once was an incontrovertible truth is now overtaken by time. Once back in real life, I catch myself proclaiming this new view as something I have always taken for granted. This also applies for business in my familiar professional environment: the world of stand construction, where we travel through the same landscape, but in a new era. Everything changes; the new reality is different from the reality 10 years ago.
What has been changed in the trade show construction sector?
Big brands used to construct expensive stands. Maybe nowadays that is still the case, but who would have thought big brands would visualize their corporate communication in the same modular stand as smaller players?
After easyFairs made their European tour, it is considered as self-evident.
Who would have thought that the 7 biggest truck manufacturers would promote their trucks in a uniform stand construction setting? Since Truck en Transport, we know better.
And who would have ever imagined that even the big brands couldn’t decide for them anymore which products to promote on a fair. Since ARCHITECT@WORK, this generalisation has gradually been modified. The visitor determines what is to be shown.
Do we have to let go of our certainties?
Yesterday truths have become partially out-dated. Focusing on these truths would only give you a fake sense of security. Certainty is only an illusion. The only certainty we have is called uncertainty.
It also obliges me to review my stance on fairs and the role of stand construction. Organisers will have to explore new grounds and we as stand constructors will have to adapt and improve our services. It is still unclear what new ground will be broken, but one thing is certain; it will be an interesting journey to find new solutions to meet the new needs.
Everything starts with out-of-the-box thinking, to be open for new insights, evaluate relevance, adapting to new situations… over the centuries, these are precisely the attitudes of great explorers.