"Now the true character is revealed"

Expodata: How does a Corona day in the life of Urs Bischoff and of Bexpo look like in contrast to a previous day

Urs BischoffAfter February 28, the task was not to receive and process orders and contracts, but to add cancellations, cancellations and rebookings. Also the accounting of the effort without then being able to finalize projects turned out to be a big challenge. It was not always clear how to deal with this unusual situation. In addition, we began to reorganize ourselves and to take the right steps to do so. However, this, the transformation of our business, did not spare us from short-time work.

What are the biggest challenges for Bexpo at the moment?

Our order backlog has been postponed until later in the year, but not reduced to zero. The task now is to start the necessary preparatory work. The difficulty at the moment is estimating when normality will return. We believe this will happen, but at the moment we cannot make any predictions about when we will call our employees back.

How else have your customers reacted - apart from order cancellations? Are there any positive reactions?

Bexpo felt and still feels great solidarity on the part of customers. Many postponed their events, but did not cancel them. This meant for Bexpo: instead of refunds, we were able to issue order confirmations with a new date. Now the true character of our customer relationships is revealed. The length of the break and the uncertainty of when normality will return is much more upsetting than the lockdown of all events.

When I say solidarity, it implies: The basis is a great mutual trust that has been created between Bexpo and its customers in recent years. For this reason, and because of the signals from our customers to continue after the Corona crisis, this makes us very optimistic for the time after. It will come. We are preparing and looking forward to it.

What good are the good intentions of customers to continue if, after Corona, the trade fair industry is now plunged into an economic crisis following the preceding structural crisis. In plain language, if there are no, only a few or dramatically shrunken trade shows?

We are using the current situation to further diversify the business area. As a classic trade show construction company, we want to become less dependent on our trade show portfolio. We are giving serious thought to the following: What activities will Bexpo undertake in the future that are marketable? Is there a better time than now to take such tasks resolutely in hand? And even with regard to trade fairs, we are convinced: it will come back. People like to meet people. After today's lean period, this reaction mechanism will be even stronger.

How can the trade fair construction company Bexpo bring digitality into everyday business? Will Corona lead to positive transformations, also in the live communications industry?

We thought about what digitization could mean for our industry. Do we want to rely more on digital media technology for use at events? We came to the conclusion that what will be needed in the future in advertising, at trade shows or at the point of sale is content, and content in the form of good stories. These are different from the classic skills of an exhibition stand construction company. Perhaps we will position Bexpo more strongly at the interface of media technology and content. That then requires new, combined skills from the employees.

How do you assess the work of the Expo Event Swiss LiveCom Association in the current crisis?

Our association, which is run on a militia system, has handled a complex and diverse range of crises excellently. Our board has done a very good job, parallel to the day-to-day business of each individual. The association reacted quickly and offered active support and advice to members.

What message do you have for the live communications industry?

People have a need for personal encounters, and digitality won't change that - on the contrary. Live communication will continue. But we have to become more interdisciplinary and educate ourselves in new technologies. For me, that's the most important lesson to be learned from the current situation.