Have You Bought Your Toilet Paper?
The last few weeks has seen the world and Australia go a little crazy in the wake of the COVID-19 scare. From knife wielding and fighting in supermarkets, to empty shelves of toilet paper, rice and pasta and from hazmat suits and masks, to accusing Asian children in schools of being responsible for the viral outbreak; the worst of our fears and panic has been allowed to come to the fore on the back of media scare tactics, social media misinformation, government inaction and the changes we see happening on a daily basis.
With events being a discretionary spend, I have weathered an attack on The World Trade Centre and wars, multiple elections, a few recessions and the GFC, but never haver I seen our industry and sister industries crash and burn like I have in the recent weeks.
The events, entertainment, hospitality and tourism industries have ground to a screeching halt. Mass cancellations and postponements across the board, hotels offering a previously unheard of 24hour FIT pre booking cancellations, planes grounded on mass, lock out laws and the list goes on. All very scary!
So, the big question is, what will the future bring and what will happen to our industry?
Will new concepts like social distancing, enforced and voluntary quarantine change how we do events and will it change social norms? I believe the answer is to some degree, yes.
The reality is, that at some point the virus will slow and things will return to some form of normality, but what will that look like and in the meantime what do we do other than sit there and watch our savings dwindle?
As always in situations like this, situations that re shape our industry, we will see a major change.
We will see a large percentage of businesses leave the marketplace, that is the norm for any sudden drop in work offerings. We will also see a lot of smaller businesses combine to form larger more robust entities and most importantly, we will see those businesses who aim to be ahead of the curve change what they do and manner in which they activate, in line with what is currently possible.
Already I am seeing emails and comms from businesses offering such things as virtual conferencing, video production, enhanced visual comms etc etc
Already the phoenix is starting to rise from the ashes (sorry to be so cheesy). From adversity comes invention, and from disaster comes something new and possibly better.
We are a creative industry with some amazing talent. Already the industry is shaking off the paralysis and starting to send out comms and ideas that will work within the current limitations imposed on all of us.
Yes, we might be angry at the NRL’s request for $23 million dollars to cover player costs at the expense of a $34 billion dollar industry that has effectively been crippled; and a government that has seemingly forsaken us, but as always, we will prevail!
The GFC taught me a lot. It taught me to think and take my business laterally. That what worked then, may not work now, that we always need to change and keep our business fluid in the wake of change, to allow us and our businesses to change, adapt and prosper.
There is no question there will be casualties, but there will also be success and for those of us who can and will adapt and change and see the reality for what it is, rather than for what we would like it to be, the future will be there.
The reality is that change is not a bad thing, sometimes it is really hard, but weathering change only makes us and our businesses stronger.
I for one, do not intend to throw in the towel and neither should you
So, do what you need to do to survive. Keep your friends, suppliers and clients close and ride the storm and try not to fall off the board (yes, also cheesy).
To all my industry colleagues, sister industry colleagues, suppliers, corporates and clients, I wish you all the best in this very trying time. May you all re appear smiling and armed to move forward with strength and growth, once this has all settled down.
Good luck; go forth and conquer and lets do more than survive!