Our fair team is now returning to normal office working

Your contacts from the PSI, PromoTex Expo and viscom team have all been busy working from home for the past three months. Now we are gradually returning to everyday office life again.

In her interview, Marlene Ramos, project manager for sales for PSI, PromoTex Expo and viscom, shares just what this means for her and the rest of the team and how they will continue to support the industry in the immediate future.

What does returning to normal office working mean?

Marlene Ramos: First and foremost, it is a vital step in returning to normality. We have developed many new ideas over the last few months and used all sorts of different digital technologies to be there for our customers whenever we were needed. However, there is no real substitute for personal contact. Consequently, we are all the more delighted to be able to announce that we have already had our first real live meetings with our customers on site again –while adhering to the relevant hygiene standards at all times, of course. It is also great to meet up with colleagues once more and be able to make arrangements and coordinate things unbureaucratically through a quick personal exchange rather than having to go through other channels.

How easy is it to collaborate with one another in view of the ‘new normal’?

Marlene Ramos: We really make sure that we strictly adhere to all the different hygiene and social-distancing measures to ensure that we do not put anyone at risk. Despite the joy of being reunited with our colleagues again after such a long time, we are very careful when working together. At the moment, we are only using half of our office capacity and have divided up all the different areas so that we can always maintain a distance of at least 2m from one another. When moving through the building, we wear masks and disinfect our hands regularly. Initially, we were a little dubious about whether this would work, but we have all been very pleasantly surprised and are quite proud of just how disciplined people have been within their own teams and when collaborating with others.

What does this all mean for preparations for the fair in January 2021?

Marlene Ramos: We are currently putting our heads together to try and find answers to a whole host of new questions. We spend a lot of time reflecting on our customers’ doubts and on how we can offer them even greater support. Regarding hygiene and safety, we are working very closely with Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre in this matter as we want to ensure that the event in January is not only safe but also retains its profile and unique atmosphere. Our customers have invested a lot of faith in us and that spurs on in achieving this goal as a team.