Event companies, which were some of the first hit by the financial impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, are looking to recent stimulus actions to keep their cashflow up as the government continues to extend limitations on in-person gatherings.
As per CEIR (Center for Exhibition Industry Research ) estimates approximately 50 to 80 percent of B2B exhibitions held in the U.S. from March 1 to May 15 have been canceled or are expected to be canceled. The trade group estimates the cancelations conservatively add up to about a $14 billion loss to the economy overall and a $2.3 billion loss in revenue for show organizers.
Local event industry executives said the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act will help stabilize their businesses and protect their employees in a number of ways.
While employers in the event space say they are still working through the full extent of assistance offered by the bill, executives cited the employee retention credit and the payroll tax deferment as two main programs that will help immediately.
For Freeman, from the very beginning of this crisis, we've said, ‘Look, our goals are very clear. We want to take care of our people. And we want to stabilize the business because we think it's going to have a serious impact on the business because this is not going to end quickly,’” said Freeman CEO Bob Priest-Heck.
Some of the act’s facets fit in line with actions already taken by Irving’s The Expo Group, said Randy Pekowski, president and COO.
“I want to say that we wish we had the foresight of was going to happen with the CARES Act,” Pekowski said. “But we still acted on that same principle, ‘What do we need to do to preserve our workforce?’ And so, we decided as a company, that we wanted to keep our workforce intact as much as we can.”
Pekowski said the paycheck protection plan will give the company an immediate infusion of cash in order to continue to pay its employees and that the deferment of the employer portion of the payroll tax will be a significant monthly savings.
Last year, trade shows contributed approximately $101 billion to the country’s overall GDP, according to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research’s numbers.
“There's a massive thing that I think people don't fully understand about the trade show and event industry and that is that we are this massive business incubator,” Priest-Heck said. “Real innovation happens on tradeshow floors. Startups come to trade shows and events to test their ideas, to look for a partner, to look for funding, to look for a channel to sell their product, to drive them in a way where they actually end up integrating with another company and building something bigger.”
The timeline for when events will be able to resume is still unclear. Social distancing guidelines related to the coronavirus pandemic have been extended through the end of April and many states are under various shelter-in-place orders.
The Expo Group expects business to start back up in July, and the company has seen indications that its clients expect to come back in full force.
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