Overcoming the Shitstorm

Every day seems to be the same these days.

I wake up and read the same headlines, hear the same news, look at the same walls. Nothing seems different, nothing seems to change. But one thing has changed - my entire way of life. 

Suddenly I’m living in this virtual reality. A virtual reality that seems organized and structured while on a Zoom call with my Perenso colleagues. In all actuality, my mind is a mess. Or for lack of a better word, a shitstorm -- a term our CEO, David Cattell, has used multiple times during our all company meetings to describe the pandemic that we’re adapting to.

“We need to adapt to survive,” David said as we watched our traditional revenue stream dry up in a matter of days. We quickly became a statistic, one of the hundreds of thousands of businesses affected by this global, COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re going to be okay, but we’re going to have to be the hardest working people in the business,” our CEO said.

I don’t think anyone was prepared for what has so quickly become our new reality. So much so, that the only way we thought to cope was to buy more toilet paper. Throughout our lives we adapt without realizing it, but now more than ever it’s vital that we adapt to a new way of life. Simply, if we don’t, we won’t survive and nor will our businesses.

How is Perenso adapting? We are taking trade shows virtual with our new product: Perenso Cloud Show. A virtual trade show platform has always been in the company blueprint, but we’ve decided it’s time to build out that blueprint so we can continue to meet our clients’ needs so that they can continue to streamline their showcase needs. 

Trade shows bring in nearly a billion dollars of revenue a year for our clients and a virtual trade show is a great way to continue that revenue stream. Vendors can also benefit from being in a virtual booth. They can continue to create brand awareness, introduce new products and touch point with key contacts all while negotiating deals and selling product.

We’re working hard to make this virtual selling space a soon-to-be reality. Individually, we are adapting to new roles and facing new challenges while coming together for each other and our company. One day we will look back and realize we not only built a new virtual platform from our homes, but in parallel solidified the foundation of our company.

So yes, every day is the same but the difference is how we as a world, business and individuals with limited resources and control, are now leaning on one another to adapt to this shitstorm. We will come out of this shitstorm not alone, but together.

Dana Goodson
Customer Success Associate