ATLANTA — Countless conventions, trade shows, and industry gatherings have been canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Atlanta being home to many of them.
The shows bring in millions of dollars of revenue for the city and business from all over the world. However, the people who put those shows together said they're struggling to stay afloat.
"These last few months as a company have been extremely hard. As the days and weeks went by, we saw that every single show was canceled. And every show for 2020 has been canceled," said David Walens, COE of Exploring INC.
He made face shields for a while when the shutdown first happened and helped design social distancing graphics, and supported hospitals.
However, none of that work came close to supporting his trade show business, Exploring INC.
"The face to face is just critical. In the trade show world in that regard you're talking about supporting the GDP of $850 billion to $1 trillion a year. You're talking about thousands of companies and millions of jobs - in the trade show world - you're talking about 10 million jobs lost because they're totally shut down," he said.
He designs interactive sets, does flooring, and booth set up for dozens of conventions every year.
He said that behind the scenes work supports thousands of Atlanta area workers.
"We've got carpenters and welders, designers, welders, engineers. It's astounding the breadth and width of how many people after affected by this in the trade show world and the event space world," he said.
Walens is lobbying Congress to pass a second round of PPP loans or relief for the trade show industry specifically.
There's only a week and a half left until Congress goes out on recess, and Walens worries with so much happening, their relief options will be overlooked.
"There will be a tremendous amount of companies that don't survive this if they don't see some sort of relief in the next few weeks or the next month," he said.
He said a bailout for the trade show industry would help save a lot of other business in Atlanta as well.
"These industries need us. The restaurants won't get filled up without trade shows, the airlines won't get filled up without trade shows, your entertainment in these cities," he explained. "So the true impact and what we do for the hospitality industry is incredible. And that's why we are raising our voice right now, it has to be heard, we have to save this industry."
He is hoping trade shows will be back in business by mid-2021. Until then, many of them are trying to go virtual, which is a challenge in itself.