The elephant in the room?

Glass Times editor Nathan Bushell discusses the latest FIT Show announcement.

I’d been hearing murmurs of unease about this year’s FIT Show for a few weeks now, so it wasn’t a complete surprise to hear that the decision had finally been made to postpone it until next May.

It is still, nonetheless, a disappointment. I think everyone was hoping that going into the second half of the year, we could start to put the pandemic behind us and concentrate on developing our businesses.

However, last week’s announcement by Smart Ready, that it was withdrawing from the show, was really pointing out the elephant in room – that very few companies have the headspace to think about exhibiting when they have so much on their plates.

Since FIT Show was postponed, I’ve only heard positive feedback.

Dave Thomas, managing director at Haffner, said: “We’re obviously disappointed the event has been postponed. However, it’s clearly the sensible thing to do and we’ll look forward to returning to face-to-face exhibiting in May 2022.”

Haffner has already rebooked, carrying over its headline-grabbing 405m2 stand.

After I announced the story on LinkedIn, a number or people commented on the post, and there were no negative reactions.

Bohle’s Dave Broxton said: “Right decision. Industry is dealing with supply chain issues at the same time as a boom in consumer spending and a third wave of Covid. Makes no sense for the whole industry to get pinged at the NEC.”

Masterframe’s Alan Burgess said: “Tough decision to make, but 100% correct. Hopefully by then, there will be far greater clarity and less volatility in the industry.”

And PR and marketing consultant John Warren said: “I’m sure this was a tough decision but, given the Covid uncertainty that has preceded the run up, the right one, giving organisers and exhibitors time to regroup for May when we can approach things with greater confidence.”