Stephanie Selesnick, Author at UFI Blog

Three reasons why to attend a trade show or a public consumer show unrelated to your business
Three reasons why to attend a trade show or a public consumer show unrelated to your business

Three reasons why to attend a trade show or a public consumer show unrelated to your business

In a recent conversation at ECEF, a one-day US conference for Association (NGO) and for-profit US organizers, I was speaking with some colleagues about visiting exhibitions in unrelated industries for fun. They looked at me in shock. As the discussion deepened, it turns out that they attend their own trade shows or competitive expos in their same sector, but never attend consumer shows (b2c) or trade shows in other industries. Or, in a couple of instances, only attend exhibitions produced by the [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-06-08T08:31:17+00:00 June 8th, 2018|All, Best Practices, Exhibition Industry, UFI Updates|0 Comments

What’s New in Attendee Acquisition?
What’s New in Attendee Acquisition?

What’s New in Attendee Acquisition?

I recently asked the following question on LinkedIn: Hi exhibition industry friends. Out of curiosity, what other attendee promotion/recruitment tools are you doing besides print, death by email and digital-based outreach? The reason I asked the question was two-fold: It seems many show organizers are over-dependent on emails to get the job done for recruiting quality visitors; and wanted to know what else industry colleagues are doing. A number of people answered, and there were over 1600 views [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-05-25T09:29:38+00:00 May 25th, 2018|All, Americas, Asia – Pacific, Best Practices, Europe, Exhibition Industry, Exhibition Marketing, Middle East – Africa, Operations & Services, UFI Updates|0 Comments

Everyone is a Consumer First
Everyone is a Consumer First

Everyone is a Consumer First

We are consumers first and foremost, and as such, our attendees, exhibitors and stakeholders expect face-to-face, business-to-business events to be more like the experiences encountered at festivals, concerts, and other live events. Unfortunately, most exhibitions are not. Here are a few thoughts to modernize trade shows so they are more interactive and entertaining for attendees. They are based on ideas expressed at the recent XLIVE Esports Summit in Los Angeles, USA. For those of you who have [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-04-11T15:24:00+00:00 April 11th, 2018|All, Best Practices, Digital Innovation, Exhibition Industry, Exhibition Marketing|0 Comments

Keeping Your Exhibition Relevant in the Future
Keeping Your Exhibition Relevant in the Future

Keeping Your Exhibition Relevant in the Future

The UFI European Conference theme this year is Future Proof Exhibitions. Keynote speaker Francis Friedman, President of trade show consultants Time & Place Strategies plans to have a strategic conversation with delegates on Future Building and Future Profiting of Exhibitions. Friedman says, as we look to the future “Attendee acquisition will no longer be simply telling people they will get ‘excellent networking opportunities, see the latest products on the show floor, and get access to educ [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-03-19T09:49:47+00:00 March 15th, 2018|All, Digital Innovation, Exhibition Industry|0 Comments

Exhibition industry triggers best practice sharing
Exhibition industry triggers best practice sharing

Exhibition industry triggers best practice sharing

Exhibition Industry: Submit your best practice example today and win one of UFI's prestigious 2018 global industry awards! Your organization and teams work hard. Let the industry recognize their efforts! Deadlines are quickly approaching for the UFI Digital Innovations, Human Resources and Operations and Services Awards. Award themes are determined by their respective Committees and change annually. The Committees also serve as judges. The awards listed below are open to UFI members and non-memb [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-02-15T10:57:52+00:00 February 15th, 2018|All, Best Practices, Digital Innovation, Human Resources, Operations & Services, Sustainable Development|0 Comments

Asia-Pacific Conference for exhibition professionals
Asia-Pacific Conference for exhibition professionals

Asia-Pacific Conference for exhibition professionals

The upcoming UFI Asia-Pacific Conference (formerly known as the UFI Open Seminar in Asia) takes place on March1-2 immediately after the UFI Educational Forum on HR Management (February 27-28). I spoke with Mark Cochrane, UFI’s Regional Manager for Asia-Pacific and asked him to share what he’s interested in hearing about during a few of the upcoming sessions at the upcoming Conference in Kuala Lumpur: Twitter: #ufikl Regional confernce highlights Keynote Presentation on Malaysia: Overviews of hos [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-02-09T13:27:42+00:00 February 7th, 2018|All, Asia – Pacific, Best Practices|1 Comment

You can’t win if you don’t try
You can’t win if you don’t try

You can’t win if you don’t try

A fresh new year signals the beginning of Award Season. In the United States, films are being considered for Academy Awards, records and songs nominated for Grammy Awards, and designers are vying to have the hottest stars and artists wear their clothes, shoes and jewelry at the events. For the global exhibition industry, UFI has a number of prestigious awards that may be right up your alley. Is your company or organization doing something award-worthy? Have some of your team members successfully [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-01-19T14:33:42+00:00 January 4th, 2018|Best Practices|2 Comments

Re-Engaging Exhibition Critics
Re-Engaging Exhibition Critics

Re-Engaging Exhibition Critics

Exhibitions are more than just a marketplace. They are an annual gathering of a community – trade or public. And when done right, the community takes ownership of the event, which is simultaneously amazing – and terrifying. Amazing because attendees become super fans and evangelists. They are invested all the way. They tell everyone they know how wonderful your exhibition is. How much they look forward to going every year. It’s “their” event. Terrifying because as super fans, they think they kno [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-01-23T10:37:39+00:00 November 28th, 2017|All, Exhibition Industry, Topics|0 Comments

Jochen Witt to deliver his 10th and final Global Industry Review at the UFI Congress
Jochen Witt to deliver his 10th and final Global Industry Review at the UFI Congress

Jochen Witt to deliver his 10th and final Global Industry Review at the UFI Congress

For the past ten consecutive years, Jochen Witt has presented the Global Industry Review at each annual UFI Congress in Johannesburg, South Africa. The annual “State of the Global Industry” presentation is seen by many as the “cannot miss” session of the event. Stephanie Selesnick: Would you share a bit about your upcoming session at the UFI Global Congress in Johannesburg? Jochen Witt: This year, my presentation will be composed of three parts: Global politics and the economies of the most impo [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2017-12-18T13:59:33+00:00 October 9th, 2017|All, Exhibition Industry Research|0 Comments

What if WE, as an industry disrupt ourselves?
What if WE, as an industry disrupt ourselves?

What if WE, as an industry disrupt ourselves?

Blogger: Stephanie Selesnick, President of International Trade Information, Inc. Disruption for business is defined as a radical change in an industry, business strategy, etc., especially involving the introduction of a new product or service that creates a new market. We know change is coming and that exhibitions have to evolve now, or go away. For example, look what digitalization has done. Can you imagine an exhibition without a website, LinkedIn group and some kind of social media presence? [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2017-12-10T11:55:26+00:00 September 18th, 2017|All, Americas, Best Practices|0 Comments

About Stephanie Selesnick