Interview: Morgan Gromy on Springbreak 2022 Organisation, Overcoming Challenges

On Thursday 10 March 2022, on the occasion of the opening of Springbreak 2022, Chronicle.lu got the opportunity to speak with Morgan Gromy, CEO of LuxExpo the Box, who shared how the organisers overcame many organisational challenges and ultimately succeeded in bringing this in-person event to the public.

Chronicle.lu: Please introduce us to what is new at Springbreak 2022 compared to previous editions.

Morgan Gromy: Launched in 2017, the 2022 edition will be the fourth. The concept was very innovative by then, but we were right – the public is enjoying it. Springbreak is not only a B2C [business-to-consumer] fair, it’s a festival mixing several parts including shows, stalls, gastronomy & food trucks, inspiring talks, a huge gaming and e-sport area, concerts, etc. Springbreak illustrates our goal to establish events as meeting places. Experience and participation are the main pillars of the event concept. This year, there will be more to see, more to do and more to taste!

If visitors want to eat or drink, they can go to the Urban Food Village, where they will find what they are looking for among the 20 food trucks and bars that are placed around the concert hall. If they want to shop, they can stroll through the shopping village and buy flights for city trips, plants to decorate their homes, local spices or ethical clothing. They can try out a bike or an electric scooter before buying it, and even a drone.

If they want to have fun, interact and try things out, there's a whole programme for them, with a great conference for companies on the importance of reinventing themselves to continue to exist, lots of concerts with, for example, the Ultrashall collective which will heat up the atmosphere all night long from Friday to Saturday, a Roller Disco track will also be open on Saturday with a DJ to liven up the track, and Red Bull will also be organising its international BMX competition on Saturday and Sunday.

These are just a few examples, there are more than 200 hours of events during these four days, the best way to discover the new features is to come and see what has been set up in less than a month. The entrance fee is €5 for those over 18 years old and it is free for minors and all these events are included in this price.

Chronicle.lu: What was the public response to updated formats / alternate events during the pandemic, such as "Long Live The Summer" in September 2021? Have you incorporated some of these elements or feedback into Springbreak 2022?

Morgan Gromy: The reception has always been very favourable with a public which, each time, has come in great numbers. This loyalty made us understand that as soon as the health situation calmed down, the activity would quickly resume and this is the case!

We had already been able to verify this with the Street Market launched in August 2021, which attracted more than 10,000 visitors in one weekend (by the way, [this was] the first fully physical mass event to be held in Europe!) and this was confirmed with Long Live The Summer and its 10,000 visitors. We have a loyal audience base, every time we do something they support us.

This whole period has fundamentally changed our way of seeing things, the public wants to have fun, they want to have a good time and combine business with pleasure, this is what we call gamification or the festivalisation of the exhibitions, an important part must be devoted to emotion and encounters and this is what Springbreak offers.

People want to participate in the programme and be actors, they don't want to be mere spectators, they want to interact with the programme. All these elements are integrated in Springbreak.

Chronicle.lu: Still under the COVID-19 health measures, what were the main operational challenges that you witnessed for Springbreak 2022?

Morgan Gromy: Essentially, we had a very short time frame to carry it out, barely a month. After two years, the health constraints are under control, we have acquired an expertise that has enabled us to open more than 60 events during the pandemic. [The] street market for example was the first event to open in Europe in 2020. We made the decision to launch Springbreak Luxembourg on the eve of the end-of-year holidays.

The launch was supposed to be just after the holidays and Omicron came in and thwarted our plans, including the communication and marketing announcement to sponsors and exhibitors. It wasn't a good idea to announce an event of this magnitude while the epidemic was in full swing. So we waited for a window and launched the operations, which was mid-February.

I can confirm that one month is short and that everyone was disorganised by the omicron wave, but all our partners and more than a hundred exhibiting retailers and associations followed us. Finally, the result is really nice, but the best is to come and see it on the spot to realise it.

Chronicle.lu: Did you come across any staffing challenges? If so, which sectors were most affected?

Morgan Gromy: Our staff, our partners' staff and our clients' staff have been affected. A project like Springbreak requires very precise phasing and the use of very different resources [while] the project is running. At all stages we have been disorganised and nothing has gone according to plan.

For the last three days, three employees have been [in] isolation, out of a team of 38 employees on the eve of the opening of the event, which doesn't make things any easier, and it's been like that since 15 January. At this stage, it's the mutual aid that prevails, but it also stresses people out. You have to change your agenda constantly, with a chronic lack of continuity in the circulation of information and instructions, with the tensions that go with it. But the team remains united and we have good prospects for the rest of the year, which gives us energy.

We can also see that people are worn out, not only in our company, but also in our clients' companies, these two years have affected them and have disorganised many people. The problem is holistic, everyone is affected at all levels.

One difficulty is also the change of functions and people at our clients and service providers, we have to establish contacts with new interlocutors, who moreover have relationships of trust, whereas meetings are difficult, it will take a little more time to re-establish these relationships.

Chronicle.lu: Did the pandemic measures currently in place mean a different approach for the design of the stands? If so, how do these differ from previous events?

Morgan Gromy: We have been working for two years in a complicated health context. We have now acquired expertise thanks to very strict procedures and we have therefore installed a routine. For example, we make sure that there are comfortable circulation areas and we encourage people to open up the stands, so that the air can circulate when we ventilate the halls, we clean the contact areas very regularly, and we make hydro-alcoholic gel widely available to the public.

We count people on arrival but we also know at any given time how many people are in a building, which allows us to regulate the flow and also, if necessary, to limit it. If an event is organised under the CovidCheck protocol, we check the sanitary passes at both entrances.

Chronicle.lu: Were there any other limitations during the organisation of Springbreak 2022?

Morgan Gromy: I think that's enough already. The regulations could change during Springbreak, if so we will adapt, we are used to it, we have been doing it for two years.