Your roadmap to recovery

FIT Show event director Nickie West was one of the first to voice her support for the government’s roadmap to recovery. With much of the country well on its way to being vaccinated, and one of the biggest obstacles in the fenestration industry’s recovery being streamlining the supply chain to meet demand, we ask Nickie why FIT Show 2021 should be a major fixture in everyone’s roadmap to recovery.

While we have all learned that we cannot take any new measures for granted, and that the timeline is ‘contingent on data and not dates’, the roadmap that has been presented appears to be both cautious and realistic: it provides a solid and positive timeline for the whole industry to work towards.

For prospective exhibitors, there is a clear timeline to work towards with confidence. For visitors, there is a safe gap between all restrictions being lifted in June and FIT Show opening on Sunday September 26. We’re working hard behind the scenes to deliver a safe and successful FIT Show, but, in turn, I am asking the industry to throw its weight behind its main platform: FIT Show 2021 should be ‘the’ fixture in the industry’s roadmap to recovery.

I have been overwhelmed by the support that we have received from existing exhibitors who have increased their exhibition space, and also brand leaders who have thrown their weight behind our September dates such as Veka, Haffner Murat, Kubu, Kommerling, Renson, Smart Ready, Cortizo, Korniche, Exlabesa, Camden Group and Hormann.

FIT Show is the UK glass and glazing industry’s number one trade show for a reason: it’s the only place where visitors can come and see, touch and compare thousands of the latest products on the market side-by-side. And I am predicting the FIT Show 2021 is going to be our most exciting event yet.

As part of our ongoing marcomms activities, we have been interviewing key brands from across the industry and finding out first-hand what they have been working on over the last 12 months and, in turn, what they will be bringing to FIT Show. This really is going to be the biggest showcase of the latest innovations that we have ever had the privilege of displaying at FIT Show.

FIT Show is a great platform to launch new products, including new variants of old products. I’ve always championed the fact that an exhibitor’s product may be new to someone walking through the halls at FIT Show for the first time. FIT Show plays one of the most important roles in the path to conversion.

It’s a vital, physical touchpoint in the customer journey.

We know that an estimated 85% of exhibition attendees will not have been seen before by a brand’s sales force. And we also know that over 90% of these attendees plan to purchase in the next 12 to 15 months of visiting a show. FIT Show delivers a captive audience of 10,000 visitors who are all in the market for the products and services on display.

It costs 22% less to contact a potential buyer at a show than through traditional channels, and that’s before you factor in the immeasurable benefits of being able to connect buyers with your products, en masse, and in person. No other marketing technique allows a brand to connect and engage all the senses in the way that exhibitions do.

I believe that exhibitions in general are set for a harder and faster return than we could have possibly envisaged at the start of the pandemic. Exhibitions are about so much more than just generating business; they are the primary platform to reunite with lapsed customers, agents, distributors, friends, colleagues, job opportunities – all the things that we’ve so desperately missed.

Our audience comes to FIT Show to see the best in the industry, to help them to be best in the business. Will you be part of our winners line-up?