(Pictured: IEG CEO Corrado Peraboni)
#SAFEBUSINESS by IEG is the name of the project launched by the Italian Exhibition Group, the trade fair and conference organizer with head offices in Rimini, Italy and operatiing in Vicenza, Milan, Brescia, Rome, Arezzo and Naples as well as in China, the U.S, and Dubai with associated companies. Listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, IEG has devised a plan thanks to working together with its outfitting and catering companies, technicians and international operators.
The project (the full, copyright-free document and infographics can be downloaded and published from www.iegexpo.it/en/safebusiness ) focuses on every phase in the tradeshow and conference experience.
“We have worked on this plan,” says Corrado Peraboni, CEO of IEG, “with the aim of providing a complete and reliable answer for our customers and the international public which, now more than ever, is asking us to be able to count on tradeshows and conferences re-starting. We have done so in line with the anti-Covid-19 health regulations and documents drafted by AEFI, FEDERCONGRESSI, UFI and EMECA, which I would like to thank for their constant presence regarding the question concerned.”
The project provides more than 50 guidelines with a rigorous regulatory and organizational protocol upstream. These include: sanitized shuttle transport between the airport, hotels and Expo Centres, all equipped with disinfectant, the obligation to wear face masks on board and a fixed number of passengers; conventions with bike sharing and electric scooter companies in accordance with hotels and the territory; ticket office and payments exclusively on line, scheduled entries according to hall capacity and extended tradeshow opening times, face mask distribution desks (with mandatory use and specific aids for those with special needs such as transparent face masks for IEG staff to facilitate relations with the hearing impaired); multiple entrances, safety aisles and distancing signage, dematerialized entry tickets, temperature checks on the public using thermo scanners and a sanitization route, wardrobe with automatic rack and disposable individual coverings.
The entire outfitting supply chain will be organized and managed in safety, visitor flows will be monitored with centralized digital tracking and on-site controls by remotely guided stewards. All the areas, rooms and bathroom facilities will be sanitized on a continuous cycle and air-conditioning channel filters will be sanitized. Digitalized informative material, multi-media productions and live streaming to support events, conferences and the media.
Catering: temperature checks for the workers, gloves, face masks, disposable overalls, skip-the-line payment apps, single portion lunch and coffee boxes, coded delivery system to the stands. A strict crisis management protocol will be established which defines on-site behaviour should suspected cases occur. IEG employees and tradeshow staff will also undergo training for their own safety and to ensure the safe execution of their duties, the use of PPE, respect of the strict procedures for personal hygiene, sanitizing and distancing.
And, on the theme of employees, the president of Italian Exhibition Group, Lorenzo Cagnoni, has announced that the company has decided on voluntary mass serological screening: “We are adopting screening to protect our collaborators, associated company employees and all our relational system. Operating in several regions, we will carry it out according to the already issued and further protocols and the relative instance has already been presented to the Emilia Romagna Regional Authorities.”
Italian Exhibition Group, listed on the Screen-based Share Market (MTA) organized and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A., is a leader in Italy in the organization of trade fairs and one of the main operators in the trade fair and conference sector at European level, with structures in Rimini and Vicenza, as well as further sites in Milan and Arezzo. The IEG Group is notable in the organization of events in five categories: Food & Beverage; Jewelery & Fashion; Tourism, Hospitality and Lifestyle; Wellness, Sport and Leisure; Green & Technology. In the last few years, IEG started a significant expansion process abroad, also through the conclusion of joint ventures with local operators (for example, in the U.S., Arab Emirates and China). IEG closed the 2019 financial year with consolidated total revenues of € 178.6 million, an EBITDA of € 41.9 million and a consolidated net profit of € 12.6 million. In 2019, IEG totalled 48 organized or hosted fairs and 190 conferences. For more info, visit www.iegexpo.it
