Sergey Voronkov: “Don't be afraid to be the first!”
On the final day of the SPIEF, another discussion dedicated to the event industry took place: “The time of the first. Global events as a safe and effective communication channel in a new reality.”
One of the speakers at the meeting was Sergey Voronkov, President of the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs, General Director of ExpoForum International.
The moderator was Larisa Belousova, Head of the Conference Department of TASS Russian Information Agency. During the discussion, experts noted that the forced massive online entrance of business in 2020 has definitely increased the value of offline communication.
Sagid Zaremukov, Acting Director of the National Congress Bureau, told about the change in the organizers' requirements for the venue and priority criteria.
“Today safety comes to the fore, here we are primarily talking about people's health. And the second factor influencing the destination place choice is the factor of sustainable development. The GDS index was established, which is the only international program for analyzing and increasing the level of sustainability of events and business meetings. The index standards are formed based on 17 Goals adopted by the UN member states. 50 cities participate in this program, one of them is St. Petersburg,” explained Sagid Zaremukov.
The convention and exhibition industry was one of the first which got an opportunity to start activities after the pandemic. Sergey Voronkov, President of the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs, General Director of ExpoForum International, shared his real experience of preparing the site for holding events: “We managed to convince Rospotrebnadzor and all regulatory authorities that exhibitions and congresses can be a special type of events that do not fall under the classification of mass events. It is our activity that can organize all the necessary security measures that are absent at any other sites associated with holding mass events. Thanks to the joint efforts of RUEF, CCI, NCB and Roscongress, we approved a separate regulation and methodological recommendations for holding events. Since the end of July, we have not had a single comment during checks from Rospotrebnadzor and not a single recorded fact of infection."
A tremendous amount of work has also been done before the preparations for the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. In the post-pandemic period, an event of this level is held for the first time.
“This is both the level of the delegations represented and the reputation component. As far as cost is concerned, it's an expensive thing. Providing with the necessary minimum: checkpoints with thermal imagers, visual inspection, the work of the first-aid post, treatment with cold fog and alpha radiation, a personal admission system, personal protective equipment in a triple stock, an increase in the cost of the quality and quantity of cleaning, strengthening of security, logistics, necessarily separated flows – all this took the company 20 million rubles, since last July, not counting current costs. We have taken on this burden and are still carrying it. As for the Economic Forum, there are “high level”, completely unprecedented security measures. For example, specially for the SPIEF, a centralized ventilation system was built through which the air is disinfected. And, of course, security is primarily associated with collective immunity, in our company it is 73%,” Sergei Voronkov did not hide.
Dmitry Mikhailov, General Director of ANO National Exhibition Operator (Expo 2020 Dubai), confirmed the high level of preparation of Expo 2020 Dubai: “The organizers pay a lot of attention to the epidemiological component. This is one of the most vaccinated countries. A whole system of measures is being prepared at the site, there is a special guide where all the requirements are specified. There is a “smart queue” regulating flows. The organizers offer those who are going to work at the event to get vaccinated free of charge, otherwise later they shall have to do it during the EXPO at their own expense.”
From August 30 to September 10, 2020, the Republic of Tatarstan hosted a large-scale two-week online event “100% Tatarstan” about the experience of the most innovative region of Russia and a communication platform for interacting with Tatarstan citizens, partners and experts. It was presented by Taliya Minullina, Head of the Investment Development Agency of the Republic of Tatarstan. The numbers of the event are as follows: 12 days of broadcasting, 21 directions, 646 units of video content, 664 experts, 53 countries, 101,351 views, 7 filming formats: panel discussions, online tours, interviews, reports, master classes, lectures and presentations.
According to Vladimir Rusanov, the Minister of Tourism of the Kamchatka Territory, the region stands to some extent from the whole of Russia “apart”, but there are such events that Kamchatka can be really proud of. It is, for example, Beringia, a traditional dog sled race that has been held annually since 1990. For 30 years, the sports competition has become a festival that combines sports, culture and business. After the pandemic, this was the first event in the Far East to be held in a hybrid format.
Volker Wittberg, Vice-Rector for Science at the University of Applied Sciences (Berlin, Germany), emphasized the training of specialists: “It is the hybrid format that allows creating special communities of professionals that provide a means for a creative approach to training employees, attracting new colleagues, and launching meetings, although remote ones. All digital technologies, using online platforms, bring us all closer together and show what can be done with the formats of holding, teach the necessary skills. And the better the employees are trained, the better is the quality of the events held.”
At the end of the session, Sergey Voronkov voiced several important messages for the effective work of the event industry.
“Firstly, an event of any level, even as complex and representative as the SPIEF, can be safe. There are all technologies, skills and abilities for this. Secondly, the effectiveness of congress and exhibition events and their importance has increased significantly in the post-pandemic world, because those production and logistics chains created over the past 40 years are questionable, as the world is being localized. We have entered the era of global “re-agreements”: these are millions of meetings and agreements, they cannot be held without gathering in one place, therefore exhibitions and congresses remain a point of “reassembly”. And, thirdly, one must not be afraid to be the first, one must open a new post-pandemic page, carry out the first events. This is a very good sign and the best cure for a pandemic that kills panic and fear of communication,” stated the General Director of ExpoForum International.