Vitaloni: the reasoning behind the new dates for MIDO

Regarding the crisis caused by the COVID-19 emergency, the MIDO organisers have postponed the 50th anniversary edition to early July. Giovanni Vitaloni, President of the event, tells us about what led the Board of Directors to this decision which aims at relaunching the industry.

Following the evolution of the spreading of the Coronavirus, the scenario of trade fair events in our country was inevitably changed, events which are currently still suspended. MIDO was the first to decide to reschedule the dates from 29 February to 2 March to early July, specifically Sunday, 5 to Tuesday, 7 July 2020.

“It is important to understand that we operated and are operating in a context of total health emergency. We had to work in a very complex situation: it was necessary to make binding decisions in a very short amount of time,"  Giovanni Vitaloni, President of MIDO, stated in this regard. “It is a measure we have taken with the knowledge that an ideal solution across the entire industry, both on a national and international level, could not be possible.  But it must be made clear, precisely for the well-being of the entire industry, that we have postponed and not cancelled the 50th anniversary edition of MIDO.  In fact, our objective now is concentrated on relaunching the industry of optics and ophthalmology,”  the President continued.

Vitaloni then gets to the “heart" of the choice of rescheduling MIDO for the month of July: “We rejected May because the risks that the health emergency could be extended to that period were still too high. As proof of this is the fact that no trade fair event in Milan has been set before mid-June: the Salone del Mobile, for example, will begin on 16 June. There are also technical reasons behind our new time scheduling: the Salone del Mobile requires 10 days of installation and set-up and 7/8 days to remove the installations; we, as MIDO, need 7 days to set up the exhibits. On a national level, the Cosmoprof in Bologna, postponed to 11 June, is the first trade fair to be rescheduled in Northern Italy.”

Vitaloni then wanted to point out that the postponement of MIDO and of the other trade fairs in Milan was a unanimous decision, made in agreement with the Mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, and Fiera Milano: “An extremely important aspect is that we have operated in collaboration with the city of Milan and the trade fair authority. The idea is relaunching all trade fair and economic activity in Milan: the most important events have been programmed from mid-June to mid-July. The other events which revolve around the Made in Italy sectors and the world of Italian fashion are also scheduled during this period: Milan Fashion Week will take place from 20 to 27 June and Milano Unica from 7 to 9 July".

Unlike past editions, MIDO will start on a Sunday and not Monday because, Vitaloni wants to make clear, “July 4th is Independence Day in the US and we want our visitors and exhibitors from this geographical area to be able to celebrate this important date”.

Vitaloni concludes our chat with an important message on which to reflect: “The companies will have to work in the perspective of presenting the pre-collections which will be launched in September and I must say that some have already started planning in this sense. It is important to set aside individualism and work in a system context which will make it possible for MIDO to be an opportunity to begin again: we have four months to concentrate on this goal.

What I am asking for is a suspension of judgment, we must, in any case, wait for the situation to evolve. We have acted on an emergency plan choosing the first available date and the safest on a health level: it was logical and we must all work together to relaunch the industry”.