With the heart filled with joy (and in recharge mode)
We are back.
We’re back to exhibition centers, to airports, to stackers, to exhibitions central services, to hotels and tol everything that comes with the exhibition life comeback… and we could not be happier.
And this was a spectacular come back, in peculiar conditions and with a lot of unexpected and original challenges, this is a project that will be forever in our memories and hearts.
And this was a spectacular come back, in peculiar conditions and with a lot of unexpected and original challenges, this is a project that will be forever in our memories and hearts.
Apex Brasil at OTC 2021
We crossed the ocean to assemble the stand and to be with our dear client, Apex Brasil, in their participation at OTC – Offshore Technology Conference, in Houston, USA. It was an emotion with the size of 353,5 m2, joined by 23 companies so anxious and joyful as we are to be back at physical exhibitions.
In 2019, this would be already a peculiar project, but in the post-pandemic time we are living (and yes, I really want to believe we are already in the post time), it gained even more special outlines.
Normally, the start point would be the client Apex Brasil request but, in this case, it was the OTC official communication informing the exhibition was really happening, received, not in May, as usual, but in August. And it was such a joy to receive this wonderful news, not only for us but also for our client who was equally eager to get back on the field. Nobody was even bothered by the fact that the exhibition was scheduled for August, the typical vacation, beach, and rest month.
After receiving the confirmation, the adventure began but followed with uncertainties and questions: Will it really happen or are will we be facing another last-minute cancelation? Will the exhibition companies join? What would be the rules imposed by the exhibition organization? Will we be able to ship the needed material? And most importantly, how will we manage to be present in this new, controlled, and closed reality?
One by one, day by day, week by week, all our questions were being answered and most of these answers were changing over time and bringing new questions. Although, in a bold and hopefully way, we did it!
We quarantined for 15 days in a neighbor country so we could be present. We use that time to reinforce the bonds of a team already connected by the responsibility of this project. We prepared everything we could, in detail, so we were more available for the inevitable imponderables that usually comes up in projects like this.
And, with the tools we had available, we worked hard and with dedication, so everything could go well and smoothly with the presence of Apex Brasil in the exhibition.
For me, Preparation is the success of any action, national or international, big or small. Who knows me, knows that I always say that a question in Azambuja is always smaller than the same question in the exhibition. So, planning and preparing in house is the key for the success of an action.
All actions have a face, but what we really know is that behind a project is a multidisciplinary team that works together (not always quietly) to complete the final puzzle. It is necessary a narrow connection and an open communication to make everything happen as smoothly as possible.
All the departments, from technical, logistic, creative, administrative, production and commercial, had an equally important participation in delivering the project to the client. The outcome can only be the expected when we work together with the precision of a Swiss clock, even with all the changes that occur during the process.
All set and planned, material shipped, the time to receive the boarding pass and to cross the ocean had arrived.
All set and planned, material shipped, the time to receive the boarding pass and to cross the ocean had arrived. And this boarding pass was received with a particular joy, it represented all the things we have been missing. To be in the ground, to watch a project grow and take shape and to be with the client, physically.
When working in the field, every day is an emotion. In our projects in Europe, we already know what to expect and it is easier to spot and deal with the challenges. In the land of Uncle Sam, everything is different, from the culture to the way of work as well as the connection between the several parts of the process. But this is also what makes this adventure so special and challenging because it means that the relationships between people are in the heart of everything: us with suppliers, us with clients, us with organizers but, always between people.
It was a great joy to watch the stand of Apex Brasil grow day by day, to feel tired by the end of the assembling days and to wake up the next day, with the energies restored.
After so many months, deliver such a special project was magnificent, not only for us but also for our client Apex Brasil.
To watch the happiness in the client and in the exhibitors, the general excitement about the come back to exhibitions, the closed deals, the signed agreements…all of this made me be sure, once more, that we need the physical reality. We need to assemble the project that were idealized with so much commitment, the clients need the physical contact, to shake hands and to be with their potential partners. We all need the deals that are signed and closed in an exhibition, and all its typical activity.
And to watch all that happen again and to feel everyone’s joy and excitement, filled our hearts of hope and thrill with the exhibitions comeback.
But think again those who think it was all happiness and glamour. Yes, we travel a lot but (most of the time) we only got to see the airports and the exhibition centers.
There are a lot of sleepless nights, loads of anxiety and uncertainty. The discomfort of long flights, endless stopovers, hotels that are not our comfortable houses and homesickness..
I could write so many more words about the disadvantages of our line of work but, the truth is that we are all addicted to what we do and that rush in the deliver makes us have, in a magical way, selective memory and to forget some parts of the process.
#wearemultilem and we love it.
Find out more about the stand da Apex Brasil at OTC – Offshore Technology Conference, here.
Now, it is time to get ready to Milan!
By Ana Fontes, Associate Sales Director.
