As the Prime Minister held a Cobra meeting yesterday I awaited with baited breath. I was convinced an announcement would be made that the UK was moving into the ‘delay’ phase, and as a result The Photography Show would get cancelled. So I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t the case and so far The Photography Show organisers had said they were being guided by government advice. So the decision to postpone the show until ‘September’ came as a bit of a surprise last night.
With no restrictions yet on movement or large gatherings here in the UK to contain the Coronavirus, it has left me thinking why the change of stance from The Photography Show now? It’s less than a week to go which is still pretty short notice, but it would have been a lot worse if the decision came within hours of the show. So I can only assume the organisers felt that either the government stance on the Coronavirus would change over the next few days, or they were seeing dwindling ticket sales. My own mini poll on Twitter resulted in 29% say they wouldn’t be attending (it was a very small sample size I might add). So I guess the organisers felt why run a show for poor attendance and run the financial risk for themselves and exhibitors?
I’ve put a financial spin on this which is a little harsh. The organisers are saying it is to protect the wellbeing of all those involved. This maybe the case but they have gone from following government guidance to now making their own judgement. Which to me says they are looking at possible attendance figures as the Country goes into panic mode (just look at the supermarket shelves).
All we know at the time of writing this is the show is postponed until ‘September.’ No specific dates yet which makes trying to move holiday/hotels/travel almost impossible. And closer we get the weekend the less accommodating the hotels will be. I wonder also if September will become the new March? It seems strange to hold a show September this year and then potentially again in March 2021? I will keep a careful eye on the new September dates but it might be no show for me this year.