Following last week’s announcement by the APPMA Board of a shift in dates for the next edition of AUSPACK to May 2022, exhibitor feedback has been overwhelmingly supportive of the move.
Covid-19 has disrupted the exhibition industry on a global scale. While some show organisers have delayed announcing postponements until relatively close to the date, AUSPACK owner APPMA decided to get ahead of the curve to minimise the impact on exhibitors and ultimately, on the success of the show.
Last week the APPMA Board announced that the show scheduled for Sydney in May 2021, would be postponed to May 2022 and staged in Melbourne instead.
While some exhibitors voiced disappointment and frustration that the show could not go ahead, the unanimous view is that postponing the show by a year was one of the most responsible decisions the APPMA Board could have made. Many expressed strongly that they would not have wanted to participate in a virtual show, and others said they had started thinking about cancelling their 2021 participation if the show had gone ahead. These same exhibitors are now planning to exhibit at the 2022 show to be held in Melbourne on 17-20 May, at the MCEC.
International exhibitors are an increasingly important part of the growing AUSPACK show – many exhibitors represent internationals principles who attend AUSPACK to support their local agents – hence many exhibitors and their customers would have been adversely impacted by an Australian only show.
Feedback from APPMA members who are also exhibitors included:
- “Member staff and visitor safety have to take priority in times like these.”
- “Great courage to make the call, it needed to be done.”
- “We have all learnt and adapted to other ways of doing business in these times and this announcement is just smart.”
- “Doing the right thing, with a good plan and good communications.”
- “If we’re going to do it [AUSPACK], let’s do it right.”
- “This is the right thing to do, as we don’t know what next year will bring.”
- “It gives everyone a bit of financial breathing space.”
The decision wasn’t taken lightly, and many factors were weighed in the process, as you can hear in PKN’s conversation with APPMA chairman Mark Dingley. In case you missed it, you can listen to the podcast here.
