Marmomac Goes Online for 2020 Event
VERONA, Italy – Marmomac will be heading online for its 2020 edition this fall.
VeronaFiere, the producer of the international stone trade fair, decided last week to put the show in the cloud instead of at the usual physical location in this northern Italian city.
The online event will take place on Sept. 30 – Oct. 2, on the same dates as previously announced for the standard trade show on VeronaFiere’s grounds.
The move comes only a few weeks after Veronafiere announced a standard – albeit smaller – trade show in Verona. Dubbed “Marmomac ReStart,” the event would’ve used roughly half the space of the usual Marmomac event.
Continuing concerns over Covid-19 and its restrictions on travel, however, played heavily into changing the focus of the 2020 event. Marmomacc draws nearly two-thirds of its attendance from outside Italy, and travel into the country remains uncertain from major markets such as Brazil, China and India, as well as the United States.
“The need for our community not to lose the meeting with the market and with any possible sign of recovery, remains unchanged,” noted Exhibition Manager Elena Amadini in an email to exhibitors last week. “This is the reason why we have decided not to realize the traditional exhibition, in our pavilions, but to transfer the Marmomac ReStart project on an interactive platform, where you’ll get the chance to gain both brand and product visibility.”
A statement from VeronaFiere noted “new online initiatives” as “three days of b2b meetings, networking and training events will bring together the entire community of marble, granite and processing technologies over the web.
“All this will be achieved thanks to an advanced, interactive and business-friendly digital platform connecting companies in a targeted and safe manner.”
Veronafiere also noted it will continue to work with the ICE Italian Foreign Trade Agency to organize contact opportunities at Veronafiere and local companies involving selected buyers, architects and international designers.
“The trade fair system is one of the strategic assets for restarting the country,” said Maurizio Danese, VeronaFiere president. “The health emergency has also severely struck the entire stone sector worldwide. Against this background, Veronafiere exploited all its potential to the full by redesigning its 2020 calendar of events. A hybrid model was thereby created between physical and digital worlds to ensure business recovery for our client companies, as well as communities in the sectors represented.”
“Marmomac, just like other events scheduled in the second half of the year, remains a strategic occasion in support of one of the main sectors in the local economy,” added Federico Sboarina, Verona’s mayor. “Having re-designed business models so quickly and in such innovative and technological terms is an operational and effective response that, as we all hope, will restore as the new normal as soon as possible.”
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