Interview with Pierre-Louis Roucaries Pierre-Louis Roucaries, Deputy Chairman of UNIMEV

What is your reaction to the ban on trade fairs in Paris?

Pierre-Louis Roucaries - I confess our misunderstanding. With all the work that the industry, theUnimev like its colleagues, has been working for months with government departments to ensure the most stringent health protection possible at exhibition centres and convention centres, we are stunned by the decisions that have been taken. You have players like Viparis and the Cannes Convention Centre who have had the measures they have put in place certified. For Unimev, we have established an extremely restrictive health protocol which applies to the entire profession.

So everything seems to be in place to ensure that trade events can be held in the best possible conditions...

P.-L. R. - It's out of the question to have a cluster on our events. As far as I know, none of the hundred or so that took place in September were clusters. We are specialists in flow management and we have been able to demonstrate the professionalism of our industryparticularly during the attacks in 2015. The control measures needed to ensure the safety of goods and people were perfectly put in place during this difficult period. So why is our sector being penalised, when there are other flows of people elsewhere that are not always very well controlled? We don't always understand the logic.

In Paris, trade shows are banned, but not conferences. Do you understand this distinction?

P.-L. R. - I'm not going to tell you that it doesn't make sense, otherwise they'll end up banning congresses too! Nevertheless, most congresses today also have exhibition areas. For an organiser, it's very complicated to run a conference without this source of funding.

To my knowledge, none of the hundred or so clusters that took place in September were successful.

What impact has the pandemic so far had on the sector's business?

P.-L. R. - The entire industry, exhibition and convention centres, organisers, design and service agencies, everyone suffers in the same way. Depending on the company, losses can vary from between -70 % and -90 %. You can keep up this pace for a few weeks, but over a whole year it's impossible. Unlike the other sectors, which have been able to get back to work, ours is the only one to have been closed for six months. At the beginning of September, and we still thought there would be a recovery, we estimated that the number of employees at the end of the year would be 32 billion euros the losses generated by the pandemic for our industry and the entire tourism sector, ranging from €15 billion for last spring to €17 billion for the autumn, on the assumption that the major international events would not take place. But then the smaller events scheduled up to the end of the year, whether international or national, also start to be cancelled.

How are you going to get through this extremely difficult period?

P.-L. R. - We are currently working with the departments of the Ministries of the Economy and SMEs on a support plan for the events sector which should be out in the next few days. It is our lifeline to get through this catastrophic period and ensure that the industry is still here tomorrow.

In a way, it's a matter of life and death for the industry?

P.-L. R. - Yes, clearly. Depending on the decisions that are taken, this will enable the industry to whether or not they can withstand the shock. Bruno Le Maire and Alain Griset have listened to us, and I hope that this will result in measures that will enable the industry to continue to be present when business picks up again.

The support plan is our lifeline to get through this catastrophic period and ensure that the industry is still here tomorrow.

What solutions could enable the sector to survive?

P.-L. R. - Firstly, short-time working over a long period to avoid redundancies and ensure that companies are in a position to take immediate action. getting the events machine moving again when business picks up again. Secondly, to reduce charges in order to spread out fixed monthly costs and thus delay the time when companies will no longer be able to meet all their financial obligations.

Does the cascade of cancellations of events of all sizes also have an impact on the French economy as a whole?

P.-L. R. - It's a problem of sovereignty. If we want our industry to prosper, events have to be able to take off again. Paris regularly ranks as the world's leading conference destinationl. France is one of the world's leading trade fair countries, alongside the United States, Germany and China. The events sector generates a huge amount of business, which cannot be relocated. But it's vital for the whole economy. While major groups have international subsidiaries, SMEs use trade fairs to market their products abroad. They are not going to set up subsidiaries in every country where they have customers, and trade fairs enable them to generate 10 %- 20 %-30 %, or even 50% of their annual business. The fact that our sector is being penalised actually penalises all the sectors in France. And I'm not even talking about all the self-employed people, shopkeepers and very small businesses who make their living from trade fairs and who are at a standstill today.

Are the public authorities aware of the role played by the sector?

P.-L. R. - I think this is clear from Bruno Le Maire's point of view. Last week, at the Big event organised by BPI at the Accor Arena, President Macron made it clear in his speech that events were important for France, hence his presence. Next, there are the announcements and the reality on the groundand prefects banning events from taking place on their territory.

At your level, how is the Mandelieu-La Napoule convention centre doing?

P.-L. R. - We started up again in September with a regional conference of chartered accountants, followed by trade fairs for the general public. But as of today, almost all forthcoming events have been cancelledWith the exception of a few local events in November and December. All international and national events, some of which had already been postponed until the last quarter, have been cancelled or postponed until 2021 or 2022.

Does this mean we should despair about the future?

P.-L. R. - Paradoxically, 2021 could be a very good yearIf we take the current order book, with many requests for 2021, in addition to the postponement of international congresses scheduled for 2020. Some of these are due to start in January. Will they be maintained? At the moment, I don't know. The organisers are waiting to see how the health situation develops before making a decision. But it does mean that when we can resume, things are going to get off to a flying start. The physical encounter is far from over.

So you're not worried about the acceleration of virtual dating?

P.-L. R. - In the spring, I heard the media saying that digital was going to make events a thing of the past. It's a cream pie. For the past five years, the sector has been growing thanks to digital technology. It's the event's best friend. Today, it's more a question of accelerating a process that already existed, with the extension of the physical event by a digital component. For example, at MandelieuFor the past 20 years, we've been running a gastronomy show, around which Facebook Live events are organised, where exhibitors present their products and recipes. In this way, we can bring a trade fair to life and make people want to come back next year thanks to this digital experience. We have two rooms dedicated to this purpose in MandelieuThese tools also enable companies with employees spread around the world to organise conventions with secure information flows, under excellent technical conditions.

So the 100 % digital event is not around the corner...

P.-L. R. - In tourism, we have to be innovative and on the move. One day there will undoubtedly be virtual 100 % events, and serious games companies will find a way to make events fun and effective, but that's not going to happen. a niche market. Humans are social animals, and physical events still have a long way to go.