Johannesburg - With the easing of lockdown restrictions, the Restart Expo hosted a two-day expo to demonstrate to South Africa that exhibitions and events can be hosted safely with all the required Covid-19 health and safety protocols in place.
The Restart Expo is a small-scale exhibition designed by Specialised Exhibitions and Johannesburg Expo Centre.
Over 30 exhibitors took part in the expo to lobby the government into allowing the industry to host at least 50% capacity at venues, as opposed to the 250 people limit.
Day one of the expo looked at the challenges that different companies faced during the lockdown and solutions to adapt to the new normal.
Although level 1 has allowed for events and gatherings to recommence, the 250 people limit is considered not viable for other event companies, organisers as well as suppliers.
One of the annual major events that take place at the Johannesburg Expo Centre is the Rand Show, which showcases every year during Easter. The show, which receives about 200 000 visitors in the 10 days it operates, was severely affected by the pandemic and lockdown.
Adele Hartdegen, chief executive of the Rand Show and Expo Centre, said: “This year would’ve been the 106th year of the Rand Show and it would’ve been an event.
“We have a lot of temporary work that gets created, we email a lot of people as temporary workers and the event impacts sub-contractors for catering, security and ticketing systems so the fact that the event couldn’t happen has had a huge effect on the company.”
Hartdegen further said the company had to retrench as Rand Show was the core activity of the business. However, she said people were keen to come back next year and she hoped the capacity would be increased to accommodate the numbers.
Another company that was affected was ExpoGuys, which provides technical services.
The Star