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Due to the continued public health risks and business disruption caused by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, all major trade exhibitions by world’s federation of trade association and conferences for the screen printing and digital printing industries – FESPA earlier slated for this year have been deferred till 2021.
Consequently, the body’s flagship show – FESPA Global Print Expo will no longer take place in Madrid Spain in October 2020 but now at the RAI Exhibition Centre in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from 9-12 March 2021, again co-locating three specialty exhibitions in one place at the same time i.e. FESPA Global Print Expo, European Sign Expo and Sportswear Pro.
FESPA CEO Neil Felton explains: “In March 2020 we took the decision to delay FESPA Global Print Expo by six months in the face of the advancing pandemic and its implications for our exhibitors and visitors. Since then the development of COVID-19 has been dynamic and unpredictable. While many regions are now gradually emerging from lockdown, at this point in time we cannot be confident that we could match exhibitor and visitor expectations of a FESPA event if we were to go ahead in October this year.”
“We have a really strong stakeholder network out there, through our 77 associations, which can tell us what the market is thinking, and in addition we’ve also spoken to all our leading exhibitors… everybody wanted us to have a show, because they want to sell. But what they also wanted was the visitors there and our biggest concern was how we’re we going to get a truly international audience in October. Because if we can’t deliver a FESPA [exhibitor] experience, we can’t run a FESPA show.”
In terms of whether March was possibly too soon, Felton said he was as confident as he possibly could be. “In my 25-year career I’ve never cancelled a show, and now I’ve just cancelled two. It’s not ideal, but the positivity out of it is let’s start 2021 as a new year, a fantastic venue and the support of the industry.
“We’re driven by what our market is saying, and they tell us that they need FESPA to kick-start a lot of activity in the market. So, they want it to be as early and as safe as possible. Nobody can say exactly what is going to happen, but our market is very keen to get going as soon as possible, because they need the market to start rebuilding again.”
He continues: “Early March 2021 offers the strongest alternative, giving our exhibitors and visitors time to recover and ourselves time to prepare fully for any new operational requirements. Feedback from the market indicates that, having faced the considerable commercial challenges of 2020, our community will welcome FESPA Global Print Expo in March 2021 as an important platform for business recovery and forward progress early next year.”
Felton also said that cancelling the show had cost FESPA money. “But us making a decision early has cost us less, and more importantly, cost our exhibitors less. At the end of the day we wanted to make the decision as quickly as possible and the response from exhibitors about Amsterdam has been phenomenal because they want to start selling stuff.”
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The last FESPA at the Amsterdam RAI attracted 16,000 unique visitors and 450 exhibitors
Amsterdam is a popular and proven destination city for FESPA events, having played host to successful exhibitions in 2006, 2009 and most recently in the 2016 Drupa year when the show attracted more than 16,000 unique visitors and 450 exhibitors. Felton said Amsterdam was consistently in the “top two” host cities in its research due to its accessibility via road and rail from so many areas of northern and central Europe will be an advantage for many visitors at this time. “It’s very easy to get to, it’s a great place to go, has a fantastic network of printers and sign shops and it’s close to Germany and Belgium and other areas, you can drive to it from the UK” he noted.
This new March 2021 edition of FESPA Global Print Expo will replace the originally scheduled 2021 event in Munich, Germany. FESPA will return to Munich in 2022.
FESPA BRASIL 2021
In a related development, South America’s leading exhibition for the wide format print industry, showcasing the latest products from more than 80 exhibitors – FESPA Brasil has also been postponed till 2021.
FESPA Brasil 2021 which is expected to welcome a staggering 18,000 visitors will return to Expo Center Norte, in São Paulo from the 24th – 27th March 2021.
The event, which was due to take place from 18 – 21 March 2020, had to be postponed due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Exhibition organisers – FESPA and APS Eventos Corporativos remain in close contact with exhibitors to ensure the delivery of an event that is rewarding and productive in equal measure. All features, conferences and seminars at the event are part of FESPA’s commitment to sharing market insight and sector knowledge that are able to inspire the print community.
Originally stood for Federation of European Screen Printers Association but with the advent of digital technology, FESPA is now known by its acronym.
For more information and participation in any of FESPA shows, please visit: www.fespa.com
