Stuart WoodDeborah Armstrong, founder of event design company Strong & Co, on how the industry can combat the uncertainty of Brexit.
Is anyone else out there worried about what is going to happen to his or her business in March 2019? Thought so.
Whether you are Leaver or Remainer, one thing unites us – we have absolutely no idea right now what is going to happen.
Anxiety is high. Every industry has been issuing risk warnings about the logistical impact, and we will face them too. But I’m optimistic about event industry folk – we are ninjas at problem solving, at risk analysis, at calculating outcomes based on probabilities. We manage risks, we are resourceful, we are resilient, we find a way, always.
No, what I’m concerned about is the impact of uncertainty. Here in the event industry the impact of uncertainty ripples out from clients to producers to suppliers and artists.
In the case of uncertainty, there is no objective basis for calculating the probabilities. So ya know. WTAF.
Well I remember from the last recession that uncertainty mean less hires, less spend on creative. We all become squirrels that need to bury their nuts. Even regular clients just won’t be spending beyond the essentials. Unfortunately for Strong & Co, the essentials don’t often include lavish experiential creative projects.
So I’m going to make like one of those tiny desert cactuses- conserve resources and burst into bloom when the rain comes. And the rain will come. It always does.