A recent wellness newsletter from The New York Times asked whether September is the new January—and I admit that’s not a new thought for me. Maybe not September, but certainly Fall is the start of the New Year. School starts, and you feel a tug in your psyche that replays the best and worst of your school days. Sports, tests, dances, and homecomings. New notebooks, new sneakers, football. Fall is a fresh start.
The author of the article, Jancee Dunn, writes:
Back-to-school season is one of those significant calendar milestones that produces what some behavioral scientists call a “ fresh start effect.” They say this feeling can motivate us to set and pursue new goals.
Some people celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the full moon seems to bring new ideas and inspiration. Fall is a natural time to welcome a new year. Back to school is only part of the reason; in agricultural societies, people harvest crops and begin preparing for the next growing season, so much so that whole cultures are structured around the Fall New Year.
- The Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashanah, literally “the head of the year,” marks the start of a series of important High Holy Days, with foods that remind us of life’s sweetness and bitterness.
- Ethiopians have their own calendar, and for them, the New Year begins on Meskerem 1, which usually falls on September 11. This date marks the end of the rainy season and the blooming of flowers, accompanied by music, family gatherings, special foods, and bonfires.
- Eritrean communities share this celebration with the Ethiopians.
- The Gujarati Hindu New Year, which follows Diwali, uses a lunisolar calendar and focuses on launching new businesses and accounting.
- Finally, another new year begins in the fall during Diwali in Nepal, when celebrations mark the start of the Nepal Sambat calendar.
- In the West, the Celtic celebration of Samhain marks the seasonal transition and the beginning of a New Year.
For those of us whose second home is the exhibit floor, fall is a time for revitalization, renewal, and rethinking. The “Big” shows are opening and expanding; they’ll keep doing so until the summer slowdown—which isn’t quite as slow as it used to be. We’re on flights all over the globe while trying to conquer jet lag. We scan our apps for weather reports across multiple destinations so we can, among other things, figure out what to pack and limit ourselves to one carry-on. We try to sync our personal and work calendars so we don’t miss anything important to the people in our lives. And as we once again assume the role of road warriors, we recommit to our physical and mental health. We check which movies are coming out in the fall so that if an event gets canceled or we have a long flight, there’s a Plan B.
Frankly, in the fall, I feel a new sense of energy and the possibilities the Fall New Year offers, which January doesn’t. So, this year, I decided to make my Fall New Year’s resolutions. They include:
- I’m going to pay more attention to my physical and mental health. I woke up recently and realized I’m in my 50s! I can’t take my health for granted. I want to stick to a clean diet—which isn’t hard in Japan—get enough sleep (yes, I said that), and exercise. A little structure helps; a hardline on the “to-dos” doesn’t, because I could fail or, worse, feel guilty if I veer from the strict boundaries I might set for myself. Easy does it, Chris.
- I want to be more mindful of what is happening across the entire industry. I want to be more than an interested bystander. Industry associations are merging and revising their mandates; private equity is now a major player for many of my client companies, and I notice people struggling with change, disruption, and the challenge of determining satisfactory margins. Amid all this, I want to be the calming voice, knowing that when the show opens, everything will be fine.
- I want to harness AI for my business without using it to replace human contributions—contributions that truly cannot be replaced. Our industry is called the LIVE event industry for a reason.
- I want to focus on companies in emerging industries—partly because I’m interested in the future and partly because learning about them helps me talk intelligently with new clients and others I meet on the show floor.
- I want to appreciate that, amid all the technology at our disposal, the people who attend conventions are hungry for human—dare I say, analog? —interactions. Putting attendees in front of a screen and hoping they can learn on their own eliminates the most important component of our world: humans talking to humans. Asking questions. Enjoying hands-on experiences. Perhaps even sitting with a cup of coffee or tea and exploring a new product’s capabilities—sorry, no touchscreen can come close to that.
- I am asking myself what I want MORE of in my life: family time, vacations, music, movies—so much in our world of exhibits and events calls for some downtime.
What are your Fall New Year’s resolutions? I’d like to hear about them. If any include exhibiting in a new city in a new country, let’s talk. One important resolution I didn’t mention is to continue exploring the world—let’s figure out how to do that together on the trade show floor.
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