Press release

05/05/2020

Press Release

THE EVENT & CONGRESS DIVISION OF ITALIAN EXHIBITION GROUP SCHEDULES NEW EVENTS FOR AS EARLY AS AUGUST, IN THE SPIRIT OF SAFETY AND INNOVATION

Safety, safeguarding relationships with customers, rescheduling events, new formats. These are the drivers guiding the Event & Conference division which, thanks to smart working, has remained 100% operational within the galaxy of Italian Exhibition Group, since the beginning of the health emergency.

The Event & Congress team, alongside the entire IEG group, is actively focusing on the issue of safety, and is already taking steps to introduce all the necessary measures, starting from those stated in the official protocols. Both venues, Rimini and Vicenza, are providing maximum flexibility in the rescheduling of events that were planned for the first half of this year, working on two alternative calendars: the second half of 2020 and naturally, 2021.

In the absence of specific national measures for the events industry, we are working in line with the hygiene and health safety protocols proposed and sent to the Government by Federcongressi and therefore not yet approved. In the meantime, however, we have managed to reschedule some of the events. The new dates of the GOI (Grand Orient of Italy) have been announced: from 11-13 September. As regards the medical-scientific congresses, the Anmco congress (cardiologists) has been confirmed for 27-29 August, and this will be the first event in Rimini's recovery phase. The new dates for the 8th National Diabetes Congress to be held at the Palacongressi in Rimini from 2-5 December 2020 have also been set. The Renewal in the Holy Spirit gathering has also confirmed its presence, along with another of the great events hosted in these years in the Palacongressi: the Web Marketing Festival, which will be held online from Rimini on 4-6 June and from 19-21 November. A large number of international events have also been rescheduled, starting with the IX edition of the International Strawberry Symposium. Initially scheduled for May 2020, it will now take place in Rimini from 1 to 5 May 2021.

As for the Vicenza Convention Centre (ViCC), hybrid formats are being proposed for events such as the Arroweld company convention and for Vi-Orienta. The conference on Nephrology (Course on AKI & CRRT) scheduled from 3-5 November will be going ahead as planned.

 

NEW DIGITAL FORMATS

The health emergency has also led to focusing efforts on new ways of conducting conferences. "By sharing with our customers the need to adapt during this ongoing evolution - explains the director of the Event & Congress division, Stefania Agostini - before Covid-19 came onto the scene, we were already studying the multichannel approach, the integration of digital options with the more "traditional" methods of organizing events. The "live" event, integrated with all the digital options, has an irreplaceable added value for us, but now we must work on contextualizing it under conditions of absolute safety. For phase 2 we are working on a new, dynamic, scalable, adaptable format, which will bring the "TV studio" into the world of events. The concept of the "plenary room" could be replaced by that of the "main studio" with connections via streaming, via satellite, with various audiences, and "aired" simultaneously from other rooms. "Our spaces will still be real containers for the launch of a product, for a scientific or training event - specifies Agostini - but with the logic of a TV talk show and reaching virtually different audiences. Connectivity, infrastructure quality, the 39 rooms, the know-how of our design and technical staff all offer Rimini an advantageous position and provide us with a model that can be replicated in each of our venues, starting from the Vicenza Convention Centre".

In the meantime, a new social campaign has been launched based on the Ready Today - Ready Tomorrow concept! with the aim of conveying a message of being close to the customer and willing to look forward together and find solutions for the future.

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PRESS CONTACT ITALIAN EXHIBITION GROUP

Elisabetta Vitali, head of IEG media relations and corporate communication

Annamaria Gradara, Event&Conference Division IEG media consultant - +39 349 1761753

This press release contains forecasts and estimates that reflect the current opinions of the management ("forward-looking statements") especially with regard to future operating performance, realization of investments, cash flow trend and evolution of the financial structure. The forward-looking statements are by their nature a component of risk and uncertainty because they depend on the occurrence of future events. Actual results may differ significantly from those announced, in relation to a plurality of factors including, but not limited to: trends in the out-of-home catering market and tourist flows in Italy, trend in the gold and jewellery market, trend of the green economy market; evolution of the price of raw materials; general macroeconomic conditions; geopolitical factors and developments in the regulatory framework. Furthermore, the information contained in this press release does not purport to be complete, nor has it been verified by independent third parties. The projections, estimates and objectives presented here are based on the information available to the Company at the date of this release.