STiR coffee and tea magazine

30 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 2, 2020 (April / May) I f you're like many in the coffee and tea industry, you rely in varying degrees upon exhibitions and conferences throughout the year as an excellent support to your sales efforts, to learn about innovations, to keep on top of business opportunities, and to meet old friends and potential new customers. And like most, you've noticed that COVID-19 virtually wiped out this marketing, sales, and learning asset — at least for the first half of 2020. "We call it the last conference of the year," said Emerson Leonard, sales director of STiR magazine about the annual National Coffee Association (NCA) conference held in early March, which was preceded two days before by AMI's Single- Serve Capsules US Conference in the same city. At that time, even though events in Europe and the US were still scheduled, many in China and Singapore were already canceled due to what was then called the Wuhan coronavirus but was officially re- named COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2). Only less than two months ago (as of this writing), FHA HoReCa, the biannual food, beverage, and hospitality exhibi- tion was in the final stages of preparation for its 2020 event in Singapore. This year was to be the first time the popular FHA (Food & Hotel Asia) was split into two major exhibitions, both occupying the entire Singapore Expo complex: FHA HoReCa and FHA Food & Beverages, with former being held at the first week of March and the latter held the last week of March. On January 30, the organizers sent each exhibitor personal- ized landing page links to encourage customers to attend; on Feb- ruary 1, the final guidelines for deliveries to the hall were sent to exhibitors and sponsors. Only four days later, the organizers informed the industry that "due the concerns about COVID-19, FHA HoReCa would be postponed until July 13-16, 2020." "This decision has been reached after extensive consulta- tion with the industry considering the challenging climate in the hospitality and foodservice equipment sectors caused by the re- strictions on travel and tourism across Asia-Pacific," said Mar- tyn Cox, event director, FHA-HoReCa of Informa Markets, the organizing group. This postponement was most notable "first" of many major exhibitions around the world that followed with cancellations and postponements. A few days before FHA announced its postponement, the organizers of Hotelex Shanghai, the massive annual hospitality, foodservice, and fine food exhibition sent a message to exhibi- tors that "some changes and delays [might] occur" for the show. With several halls of coffee-related exhibitors, Hotelex Shanghai is arguably the largest coffee industry event in China. Around mid-February, Informa Markets, also the organizer of Hotelex, announced that the show — which, in 2019, featured 230,000 sqm of exhibition space, 2,567 exhibitors, and 159,267 professional visitors — was postponed to June 15-18, 2020 at the same location. At this point, STiR coffee and tea's online events calendar began to disintegrate; one by one, the exhibitions and conferences listed there were canceled or postponed. On February 10, MICE Melbourne, the most popular an- nual coffee exhibition held "down under," sent out an email with the subject heading "Making the Most of Melbourne" to exhibitors planning their upcoming visit to the city. In 2020, MICE Melbourne presents the World Barista Championship and World Brewer's Cup, with an estimated 100 competitors taking the stage. On March 3, another email said, "The Mel- bourne International Coffee Expo and the World Coffee Cham- pionships are scheduled to proceed as planned." Only seven days later, the industry was notified that, "Fol- lowing the recent announcement from [the premier of Victo- ria, Australia] and the measures that will be taken by our state government to mitigate the risk of COVID-19, we have made the decision to reschedule [MICE Melbourne]," according to a statement from the organizers and sponsors. Two days after that, organizers of Specialty Coffee Association's (SCA) popular European event, World of Coffee — this year being held in War- 2020: The Year Without Exhibitions? Staff Report

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