FEATURE
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“He didn’t know that my family connection was exhibitions,
so we had a lot to talk about. Here was I at a German exhibition
contractor’s company understanding everything that he was
doing because I was familiar with it back home in England,” he
continues. “We’re talking 1968, and the Germans still very much
remembered the war, but we got on very well. We didn’t dwell on
the past, we just liked each other.
“We talked about the way stands were built in the old days,
with stock panels, wallpaper and paint and how laborious it was,
how it took ages to do and how there must be a better way. We
developed with others an aluminium system, the first aluminium
system designed to build exhibition stands, and it was launched
to the press on 6 December 1968.”
The system, which was reusable and easily recyclable, became
the first system used at the NEC and ExCeL London, and enabled
organisers to rapidly reduce build-up and breakdown times.
“There’s still nothing better or quicker,” adds Armitage. “We
got rid of a whole trade in the industry – painters and decorators.
We cut tenancy times enormously and reduced the cost of shell
scheme. The price that it is today is a fraction of what it was.
Venues have done very well out of it because they have more
shows and organisers have shorter tenancies and shorter builds.”
Armitage was present in South Africa to celebrate the
50th birthday of Octanorm at the Octanorm Service Partner
International event in December 2018.
A changing industry
Throughout the course of Armitage’s 50-plus years working in
exhibitions, innovations like inkjet printing, changes in badging
and registration and an increased focus on sustainability and
health & safety have all made their mark on the industry.
One of the most noticeable changes has been the evolution
of the industry’s associations, a change Armitage doesn’t see as
a wholly positive one. His grandfathers were actively involved
in the formation of the National Association of Exhibition
Contractors, which subsequently became BECA (the British
Exhibition Contractors’ Association). Nowadays the three
exhibition industry associations – ESSA, the AEV and the AEO –
February 2019 | exhibitionnews.co.uk
share an office and often work cooperatively on various industry
projects and working groups, which is where Armitage believes
the issue lies.
“It’s vital to have an association, but they should be
independent. I don’t think the poacher should be in cahoots with
the gamekeeper,” he explains. “They have different priorities,
although they rely on each other. Venues don’t like organisers; I
know they are their lifeblood and their customers, but organisers
are trying to screw down on tenancy costs, they’re trying to
nick days when they can for nothing and they’re trying to get
exclusivity. It’s a battle of wits between the hall owner and the
organiser. And all of this with the contractor at the end of the
food chain picking up the scraps.
“I don’t think they should be in the same club. But one should
never forget the exhibitor and the visitor, without them we are
lost. It’s five-legged stool.” EN