When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in 2019 and industries such as retail, hospitality, and events and exhibitions were forced to close, postpone, and cancel, the future for these areas of business seemed bleak. During the pandemic, event organisers were forced to adapt and diversify with a number of events trialling digital versions with webinars being held left right and centre. This impact can be seen in the figures with Statista reporting the annual revenue of global exhibition and trade show industry declining by 68% in 2020 compared to the previous year. This saw over two million jobs affected worldwide. Fast forward to today and things have very much stabilised with in-person events having returned with strong visitor numbers and positive feedback being reported. The global events and exhibition market is now expected to reach $50.01bn (£39.94bn) by 2027 with a CAGR of 3.54% during this period according to Mordor Intelligence. The environment is also an important topic to consider when discussing the exhibition industry with events typically requiring short-term graphics and signage with little trace of disposal after use. Thankfully more options are being offered all the time with companies such as Reconomy, CarbonQuota, Dufaylite, and Antalis all providing either sustainable substrate options, or recycling and end-of-life schemes for graphics. Textiles are Booming One area of the exhibition stand system sector that is reported to be rising in popularity is the use of fabric for graphics. Newport-based Ottimo Digital confirmed that this has been the case for the company on a recent visit to its site. Founded in 2010, Ottimo specialises heavily in the supply of print to the exhibition market with the company producing work for events and exhibitions across the globe. Investments in EFI technology has meant the company has been able to move up from 3.2m production to 5m production and offer more to its customers – both trade and end-user. Lee Crew, company director of Ottimo explains that at the start of the business’ inception, Ottimo was producing a lot of print to vinyl, mounting it to Foamex, and sending out panels to exhibition contractors. “Over the years that’s changed, we’re now doing a lot more fabric and textile print and we’re supplying a lot of wraps for exhibitions which are textile and soft signage,” he says, adding: “This is much more popular these days.” COMMAND THE ROOM With the events and exhibition industry well and truly back on its feet, what are some popular exhibition stand options and how can you use these to stand out from the crowd? TASTE FOR SUCCESS / EXHIBITION STAND SYSTEMS 59 Issue 247 - June / July 2023 email: news@signlink.co.uk ► Very Displays uses its own soft signage solutions when exhibiting at events
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