Latest posts by Martin Moodie (see all)
- Discovering a fresh philosophy in Shenzhen and talking Trinity in Ho Chi Minh City - April 24, 2024
- How I overcame Severe Tire Damage to become the oldest influencer in town - April 20, 2024
- Free as a (Kiwi) bird and flying high in Haikou - April 13, 2024
And so another TFWA World Exhibition draws to an end. I have been coming down to Cannes since 1988 and each year the event seems to grow bigger, more extravagant, more tiring, longer.
Those who pioneered the event, notably people such as Sarah Branquinho and Erik Juul-Mortensen, must sometimes pinch themselves when they see what it has become from those fledgling early days in the late 1980s.
Certainly it’s a trade exhibition on a grand scale and one must applaud the TFWA management for the seamless, professional way in which it is run.
In numerical terms, my plane back to Heathrow Airport yesterday was like being in a TFWA workshop, packed with delegates making their various ways home to locations far and wide. The collective weariness was a sight to behold and I doubt that I have ever seen so many passengers asleep on a short-haul flight.
As I write, the final day is about to begin. In a few hours the stands will start to come down, and the Palais will be stripped bare of its latest temporary identity.
For the TFWA team, led by President Juul-Mortensen and Managing Director Alain Maingreaud, it will be a time of poignancy, reflection and perhaps even of flatness as the pressure of the past few days fades away and the Palais again becomes a construction site. But it will also be an opportunity to reflect on, put simply, a job supremely well done.