Business Festival postponed until Autumn

Organisers have delayed the Black Country Business Festival (BCBF) until the Autumn as a result of the ever-developing situation regarding the Coronavirus COVID-19.

Originally set to take place from Monday 11 to Thursday 21 May, the Black Country Chamber of Commerce announced the new Business Festival dates as being Monday 5 to Thursday 15 October 2020.

BCBF event management company, Associate Events, has been busily contacting all event organisers, sponsors and venue partners with the news. Already, many event organisers have transferred their events to the new October dates in line with the existing programme.

The BCBF relies on partnership, sponsorship and support from organisations in the Black Country - which remains unaffected and has automatically rolled over to October.

Chief executive, Corin Crane (left) said, “This is an extremely difficult time for everyone but our primary concern must be health and safety, which is why we took the decision to postpone the Festival until the Autumn.

“We believe this move will also safeguard this fantastic Business Festival so that it will remain a permanent feature in the Black Country business calendar long into the future.

“We would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding at this time and we hope to rely on the support of our amazing business community to pull together and help re-ignite the Black Country business scene through this significant initiative later in the year.”

Associate Events managing director, Alister de Ternant (right) added, “It is obviously a very fluid situation and although we are working towards a physical Festival in October, the reality is we just don’t know what the position will be.

“Should there be a forced requirement for live events not to go ahead at that time, we have already put plans in place to allow the entire Business Festival to be run on a digital basis, with events being live-streamed using a platform that will be accessible to everyone.

For more information, email hello@blackcountrybusinessfestival.com, call 01902 912304 or visit www.blackcountrybusinessfestival.com.

For any businesses who would like more information and support on COVID-19, including a range of resources and organisations offering guidance on how to minimise the impact of the coronavirus, please click here to be directed to the Black Country Chamber of Commerce COVID-19 Business support page.