Go LIVE Together Coalition Aims to Protect the Trade Show and Live Events Industry
Coalition brings together live events industry leaders to urge local, state, and federal legislators to consider measures for support and recovery
April 23, 2020 – Fern Exposition Services announced their support as a founding partner for Go LIVE Together, a coalition of 80 founding partners—representing over 4,000 companies with U.S. operations—who have joined forces to support legislative actions that will aid the industry’s recovery from COVID-19. The coalition is bound together by the belief that nothing in the world will ever replace the power and need for trade shows and live events.
“Live events provide an incredible value to our society on levels that are often unseen by many. In addition to providing meaningful careers to hundreds of thousands of individuals, being an economic engine for many cities across America; live events are often the catalyst for research and discovery where leading professionals gather to collaborate and connect on the issues we are facing today. The attendees and exhibiting companies at trade shows held by organizations such as the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology provide valuable content and networking for many of those who are working to get us to the other side of this pandemic. The recovery efforts being coordinated by the Go LIVE Together Coalition to get us meeting again have never been more critical.” said Aaron Bludworth, Fern’s President & CEO.
Events serve as a massive incubator for innovation and economic growth. Advocating for recovery funding will be essential – not only to the events industry – but to the healing and recovery efforts of the global economy, because:
- Live events contribute nearly $1 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, with events touching every major sector that makes up the U.S. GDP.
- In 2019, the events industry employed 3 million workers directly, with a total impact of close to 7 million jobs.
- The live events industry employs millions of union workers, general laborers, strategists, marketers, concession stand workers, entertainers, riggers, project managers, and more.
- Over 80 percent of the companies that serve the live events industry are small, with many being women and minority-owned businesses.
Please join our efforts in advocating for what we all already know to be true — nothing in the world will ever replace the power and the need for live events.
Let’s Go LIVE Together! #GoLiveTogether
Visit www.golivetogether.com to learn more information.
About Fern
Fern (www.fernexpo.com) is a leading national marketing support and tradeshow services provider that delivers unmatched customer service, best-in-class creativity and innovative solutions for exhibitors and large-scale events. Fern is among the top three face-to-face event service providers in North America serving more that 1,400 events annually, including many top 100 shows and dozens of Fortune 500 companies.
For more information, call Jim Kelley at 781-314-1992 or email him at jkelley@fernexpo.com
