Fernando Fischer was named President of RX Americas in November 2020. He tells us why he's proud to lead the company, what excites him most about RX's digital evolution, and the joy of returning to live events.

What experiences do you bring to your role as President of RX Americas?

I've been with RX for 5 years now (previously I was President of RX US and CEO of RX Brazil), and I'm grateful for all the opportunities the company has given me to grow. I started my professional experience as a basketball player in Brazil which deeply marked my life. Basketball taught me how to face challenges, how to be part of a team and the importance of determination and resilience. I am an alumnus of the University of Rochester and Yale; but, honestly, basketball gave me my most important life lessons. Prior to joining RX, I had the privilege of managing seven companies in Brazil, mostly turnaround stories, in many different sectors including food service, consumer electronics, plastics, textiles, security and a gaming startup in San Diego. I also had the opportunity to be the CEO of an NGO, whose main objective was to financially support athletes in need participating in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. I guess it's a diverse mix of unique experiences, but is that what we're right about?

What makes you proud to lead RX Americas?

Our people! It is a privilege to have the opportunity to work alongside such talent and serve our clients in the role I hold today. As leaders, we must remember that we are here to serve and support the exceptional talent we have in our business. Our team is simply the best. I have no words to thank them enough for taking care of our customers and taking care of each other. I believe Covid-19 has been the ultimate proof of the resilience of our industry and the RX family, and it is for our people that I come to work every day.

Covid-19 has had a profound impact on the events industry. How has it reshaped your organization in the Americas and what strengths have you drawn from it?

Our lives are based on the expectation of a better future, and Covid-19 has abruptly taken that away from us, placing uncertainty at the center of all work and family conversations. This, combined with the challenge of not having our people physically together, was a test I had never faced before in my career. In 2020, we had to make a lot of very difficult decisions. Now we are in the final stages of our new organizational structure, aligning the business to create and capture value in a completely different way. Our sales, digital, marketing and events portfolios work in synchronicity, with our support areas much closer to our customers. This crisis has made us faster, helped us manage risk like never before, and allowed us to test products and ideas with a more open mindset. But there is still a lot more to do. And I know that I have to keep coming to work every day to try to make life better and easier for our people, to deliver the value that only they can deliver to the communities we serve.

The United States, Mexico and Brazil are now all reopened for live events. How are your customers reacting?

I like to say that our curve is up, but still bumpy. We had our first event at LATAM in August - IBTM America in Mexico. Brazil are still planning their first event in October, but with many challenges for sure. As for the United States, we were delighted to reopen the doors of JIS (Jewellers International Showcase) in March and have held many events safely and successfully since then, with a busy fall schedule.

Although countries are definitely at different stages, customers are reacting in much the same way. Our largest customers are split into two main groups – those who have implemented travel restrictions for employees and postponed their attendance to the next edition; and those who have chosen to move forward, but in a different, more effective way, from which we have positive feedback.

Our small and medium-sized customers, who rely on events to boost their sales, have been hardest hit by the lack of live markets. And they're the ones that, when you walk down the aisles, you really feel the gratitude and appreciation for all that we've done over the past few months. It's only when you pause and talk to them that you really understand what we do, and why we now proudly say we're 'in the business of building businesses'.

Tell us about a digital innovation from each of your regions that is helping to transform the RX customer experience.

Across the regions, our teams never cease to impress and surprise me. For Mexico, I would highlight their customer-centric approach. From the start of Covid-19, they were able to think about digital from the customer's perspective, creating products and offers in a very simple way, so that our customers could easily understand the value they were bringing. Brazil have been able to pivot and revisit their offerings so quickly that they have already exceeded their digital budget revenue for 2021! The team also created our new “Exhibitor Dashboard”, a global tool that is now essential to our digital journey, which allows exhibitors to clearly quantify their return on investment in our events and platforms. One of the main strengths of our American team is their speed and testing mentality. We very quickly created solutions and captured a significant revenue stream. But just as important is their enormous success in building participant engagement. To date, over 92,000 participants have engaged with our digital initiatives, 53% of which are new to our database. It's a goldmine, and something we've never had before, so kudos to Team USA for expanding our communities.

What excites you most about the digital evolution of RX?

Digital evolution is an essential part of the journey we call “customer experience”. We are reinventing ourselves, evolving — and fast. It's nice to see our company adapting, innovating, taking risks, testing new ways of creating and capturing value. We are exponentially amplifying the size and quality of our communities, bringing significant numbers of new members into these communities every month at a rate none of us could have imagined 18 months ago. Now the game will shift to converting these to physical events and monetization. RX has created a digital center of excellence and tests solutions and product offerings globally, adapting best practices with a startup mindset. The new RX branding is also part of that transformation, and it all came out of the adversity we faced with Covid-19. It's adaptability - probably the most important skill we all need to get ahead.

What opportunities can RX Americas offer people who want to advance their careers in face-to-face and digital events?

I want to stop here and acknowledge that this is a topic that keeps me up at night. 2020 has been brutal, but 2021 has seen the evolution of RX into a business where every individual has the opportunity to thrive and where we grow together. The word that comes to mind is “belonging”; by constantly building trust and commitment, we aim to create growth opportunities for all our talents. We continue to improve our feedback and assessment processes to advance equity in our talent development process. We have increased our leadership training and digital innovation has become a focus for constant improvement, both through knowledge sharing and direct talent development. My belief is that RX will become a benchmark for data, insights and matchmaking. We will continue to build tools, improve processes, hire and develop talent that has the sense of belonging we need to get there.

What is the future of events for you?

I know it's an oft-heard statement, but Covid-19 has been a huge wake-up call for our industry. We are advancing transformations in 24 months that would normally take us 20 years. No other industry has the power to bring digital and face-to-face together like we do! Our job is to expand the size of the communities we serve, engage newcomers with the highest level of buy-in, and convert them into an extraordinary face-to-face experience. If we build that, our customers will come 365 days a year.

Originally published in Trade Show Executive. Read the full article here: https://tse.pub/September2021