On Tuesday, June 2, AAXO participated in the sixth Global Exhibitions Day (#GED2021), an initiative put together by UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry. GED takes place on the first Wednesday of June each year with the aim of increasing the visibility of the Exhibition Industry regionally as well as on a global scale. To make the biggest possible impact, Global Exhibitions Day this year focused on just one message: “Exhibitions are key to rebuilding economies”.

The event promoted the effectiveness of exhibitions as a platform for connectivity; reiterating that face-to-face exhibitions are the fastest way to reconnect with your marketplace, and that the connections made at exhibitions will lead to the renewal of our economy.

In South Africa, AAXO partnered with SA Tourism to create an unforgettable event for the South African exhibitions community to celebrate GED 2021 across two cities, Johannesburg, and Cape Town. The event was enthusiastically received by industry stakeholders who in many instances had not seen each other for some months and so the focus on connecting, reconnecting, starting and rebuilding communities and economies through exhibitions was also celebrated on a personal level as people revelled in the opportunity to renew relationships in person once again.

The UFI GED 2021 theme had called for industry members around the world to take a video or a picture with the sun rising in the background. However, we are African and our sunsets are legendary, so AAXO decided to imbue the local celebrations with the rich colours, flavours and sounds of Africa, incorporating potjie, sunsets and drumming instead. “As the sun sets in Africa, the exhibition industry will rise again to a new dawn” was the South African event tagline and the sight of 46 exhibitions stakeholders connecting through an African beat as they drummed together at sunset for the safe reopening of the industry, was nothing short of inspirational.

The Drum Circle presented by Drum Café and turned out to be the perfect activity to allow people to fully engage with one another whilst maintaining a safe social distance at the same time.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who took the time to celebrate with us and to our valued partners:

• SA Events Council
• SA Tourism
• EXSA
• Johannesburg Expo Centre
• Gl event South Africa
• Ethos Production
• Barmotion
• Main Events
• Signature Lux Hotel Cape Town
• Cape Business News