The Future of Trade Shows
A constantly changing footwear environment has challenged trade show organizers to get creative, with digital options and a potentially new calendar.
Three leaders from major footwear shows reflect on the changing marketplace.
Footwear organizations are deliberating over the best — and safest — way to bring the industry together, as daily developments change the playing field. On July 7, FN expanded on this conversation by congregating three leaders in the trade show space for its latest virtual roundtable, featuring executives from FFANY, Micam Americas and Atlanta Shoe Market.
In “FN Live: The Future of Trade Shows,” FN women’s editor Nikara Johns hosted a discussion about what the industry can expect from some of its most established show organizers, both this year and further ahead.
Johns was joined by John Heron, executive director at FFANY; Kelly Helfman, president of WWD Magic, Project Women’s, Micam Americas and Sourcing at Magic; and Laura Conwell-O’Brien, executive director at Atlanta Shoe Market.
Unfortunately, since that conversation, both Informa and Atlanta Shoe Market have made the decision to cancel their physical events; Informa’s virtual show will still take place. But the enduring belief in the value of a physical component to trade shows remains strong, with all parties planning for 2021 in-person events.
Highlights of the conversation are shared below:
ON COLLABORATION BETWEEN INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS
JOHN HERON: There is a lot of discussion, there is a lot of collaboration going on, about how different companies are handling the situation we’re in. The industry no longer has the luxury to work in factions. We need to come together to make sure that we have schedules that align and we’re all working together to move in the same direction. One of the things that’s interesting about us is there seems to be less animosity between the major shows than in the past, because we’ve all developed distinct lanes, and while there’s always a level of competition, we all do things specifically well and have specific interests that don’t necessarily diverge.
ON THE ENDURING ROLE OF THE PHYSICAL SHOW:
KELLY HELFMAN: Trade shows are a key part of our business, and the footwear show at Magic has always been a major part of the footwear community and I think that it will forever be a major part of the B2B market. Bringing the buyers and sellers together is key, especially in fashion: We know that all buyers want to touch and feel the product. They want to meet their vendors in person, build personal relationships. So this face-to-face event business is extremely important and it’s not going anywhere.
LAURA CONWELL-O’BRIEN: We are a touch-and-feel-type industry, so I don’t see that our trade shows are going anywhere. We could possibly have digital components coming into our industry. But I don’t see that the trade shows will be going anywhere anytime soon.
ON THE NEW DIGITAL FRONTIER
KH: Informa Markets Fashion is launching a digital trade event Sept. 1. It’s going to run eight weeks until Nov. 1 and it’s going to be Magic, Coterie and Micam Americas. We’re really excited because Micam Milano just joined our digital event as well. We’re partnering with NuOrder, who obviously is a real leader in this space, has a great platform and a tool to do order writing and connecting with your customers.
So we’re going for it and we’re learning a lot. Our job is to convene the market and if we can’t do that physically, we’re definitely going to do that digitally. Nothing will ever replace our face-to-face events, but this will be a great complement to it. You can shop and search; you can access a lot of great education materials. Our buyers are going to be able to attend the seminars that they know and love at Magic, which are all free. We’re going to curate a ton of content. So what makes it different from any B2B order-writing platform is the content, and how we’re going to supply education.
JH: New York’s not ready to have people come back in August, nor do people have a comfort level traveling to New York in August. So unfortunately, our physical August show is not going to take place as we normally want it to. But we think it’s really important to come together as an industry, so we are going to be working with Footwear News, with [the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America] and Two Ten Footwear Foundation to have an industry event Aug. 4-5. It’s a virtual summit. We’re going to have interviews with industry leaders; we’ve got some great people lined up. We’re going to have a list of topics that are relevant in today’s world, such as the move to digital; the new retail order; shifts in sourcing; some of the safety concerns that companies are facing; diversity and equality in all phases of our business; the rise of digital. We’re going to try to visit some showrooms and show what’s going on in some of the key showrooms.
STATE OF THE BUYER
JH: I think people want to be optimistic. I think people are incredibly cautious, especially in the majors, the department stores and some of the