Well, it’s been 11 months since my last blog, so I thought it was about time to put “pen to paper” again.
Where to start? Well probably just after the 9th March 2020 (my last blog), I don’t think anybody foresaw us being under lockdown for this long? It was going to be short-term pain for long-term gain, I think going in to the first lockdown we all envisaged being back to normal with a few weeks or months?
Pinnacle haven’t built an exhibition stand since the Hugo and Hudson stand at Crufts 2020. The date of the pull-out? Sunday 8th March. At Crufts we heard of stands that had been built, and almost immediately taken back down again, and stands where the staff manning the stands were stopped by their companies even attending, it was eerie. Following this shows were canceled or postponed, with uncertainty reigning, some shows in Europe had gotten to the last day of the build when shows were cancelled, it was heartbreaking.
The first few months were tough, the sun helped, but in all honesty, all that meant was what little work there was could be completed in the morning, with the afternoon reserved for “work” in the garden, we all know what i’m eluding to. Work was sporadic and small, but we were able to live off the money generated from what was shaping up to our busiest ever exhibition season, and year.
Come the end of lockdown things did ease somewhat and there were some green shoots, though nothing can ever truly replace the buzz and income generated by the exhibition business, though i don’t miss the early mornings or driving in the snow!
I think late summer and early autumn brought the realisation to many companies, that, it was time to diversify or die, so what we have seen is a marked shift. If there’s one industry that’s gotten busier during lockdown it’s ecommerce, who isn’t on first name terms with their DPD driver now? I genuinely look forward to the interactions with Josef, though i’m not a big fan of being in his photos of the parcels on my doorstep!
With lockdown 2.0 in November and then what feels like lockdown 145.0 in January/February, although there seems to be an end in sight with mass vaccination, “normality” still feels so far from reach.
There have been murmerings of some exhibitions and events coming back, in summer 2021, but at the moment that seems unlikely, I certainly can’t see large scale indoor exhibitions in the UK until autumn at the very earliest, and that’s dependent upon the roll out of the vaccine and its effectiveness, something that is still a bit of a mystery.
So whilst our modular tension fabric exhibition system isn’t flexing its muscles, we’re spending plenty of time on ecommerce online stores and basic website design, and to be honest, we’ve loved every minute of it, and we’ve helped out a couple of companies really bring an awful lot of work in online sales, from a standing start.
So if you’re looking for a web design agency, who can create something basic, or an all-singing ecommerce website, please get in touch!
Or, if you’ve booked in for a UK based exhibition and need a contractor who can supply a cost-effective modular exhibition stand, that can be re-used, please contact us via our online form!
