Stephanie Selesnick, Author at UFI Blog

Are Exhibitors Another Dollar to be Made?
Are Exhibitors Another Dollar to be Made?

Are Exhibitors Another Dollar to be Made?

Stephanie Selesnick, President of International Trade Information, Inc. Recently, I was in charge of coordinating the booths for clients at two exhibitions here in the United States. The process was painful. One of the worst parts was navigating exhibitor manuals. Both (from different companies) were not intuitive and technologically challenging. In other words, it was difficult to find, then order booth display items, etc. Compare that with TripAdvisor.com, who makes the experience easy. You [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-12-20T14:07:17+00:00 December 20th, 2018|All, Best Practices, Exhibition Industry, Exhibition Industry Research, Topics, UFI News, UFI Updates|1 Comment

Leave the Rides, but Bring On the Experiences – How to Add Festivalization to your Exhibitions
Leave the Rides, but Bring On the Experiences – How to Add Festivalization to your Exhibitions

Leave the Rides, but Bring On the Experiences – How to Add Festivalization to your Exhibitions

We keep hearing the word “Festivalization” when it comes to exhibitions. Chet Burchett, Reed, at the recent UFI Global Congress said our focus should be about delivering a solid business experience more than offering fun with our events. I think we can deliver an enhanced experience by combining the two in a thoughtful, creative way. Written by Stephanie Selesnick, President of International Trade Information, Inc. Festivalization is a term coined to describe making b2b events more fun and exper [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-11-23T09:50:36+00:00 November 23rd, 2018|All, Best Practices, Exhibition Industry|2 Comments

Interview with Miranda Martin, Maria Tsedeviyn & Glen Foulstone, NGL Grant 2018 Recipients
Interview with Miranda Martin, Maria Tsedeviyn & Glen Foulstone, NGL Grant 2018 Recipients

Interview with Miranda Martin, Maria Tsedeviyn & Glen Foulstone, NGL Grant 2018 Recipients

2018 NGL Grants: Miranda Martin; Glen Foulstone; Lilian Burgardt; Maria Tsedeviyn. Earlier this month, I spoke with Lilian Burgardt, Informa Brazil about being an NGL Grant recipient. Now, let’s get to know UFI’s other NGL (Next Generation Leaders) Grant Winners. Miranda is Portfolio Director, Niche Events with Fresh Montgomery in the UK, Maria is the Head of Advertising, Design and Internet Marketing for ExpoForum-International, Ltd. in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Glen is Senior Project Mana [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-10-05T08:22:45+00:00 October 4th, 2018|All, Best Practices, Exhibition Industry, UFI Updates|2 Comments

UFI Next Generation Leadership Grantee – meet Lilian Burgardt
UFI Next Generation Leadership Grantee – meet Lilian Burgardt

UFI Next Generation Leadership Grantee – meet Lilian Burgardt

2018 UFI NGL Grantee - Lilian Burgardt, Head of Digital Products - Informa Brazil. Meet Lilian Burgardt, Head of Digital Products - Informa Brazil, one of the four recipients of the UFI Next Generation Leadership Grant (NGL). Lilian Burgardt, one of the four recipients of the 2018 NGL Grant, and I had a chance to catch up earlier this month. The UFI NGL Grant is awarded to future leaders of the exhibition industry for exceptional initiative in driving change and innovation within their differe [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-09-13T14:06:48+00:00 September 13th, 2018|All, Americas, Asia – Pacific, Best Practices, Digital Innovation, Europe, Exhibition Industry, Exhibition Marketing, Management, Middle East – Africa, UFI Updates|0 Comments

The Mexican Exhibition Market – a Conversation with José Navarro
The Mexican Exhibition Market – a Conversation with José Navarro

The Mexican Exhibition Market – a Conversation with José Navarro

José Navarro, General Director, E.J. Krause Tarsus de México and Chairman of the UFI Latin American Chapter. José Navarro, General Director, E.J. Krause Tarsus de México is also the Chairman of the UFI Latin American Chapter. He along with Paul St. Amour, Vice President of E.J. Krause Tarsus de México are presenting the Viva Mexico! session at the upcoming Latin American Conference September 18-19 in Mexico City, Mexico. I had a chance to catch up with José the other day. Interview by Stephani [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-08-23T08:35:34+00:00 August 9th, 2018|All, Americas, Exhibition Industry|0 Comments

Insights into the Brazilian Exhibition Industry
Insights into the Brazilian Exhibition Industry

Insights into the Brazilian Exhibition Industry

Marco Basso, President of Brazil Informa Global Exhibitions Division. Marco A. Basso, is President of Brazil, Informa Global Exhibitions Division, a company he’s been with the last 22 years. Discovered by a head hunter to begin Informa’s operations in the country, he knew nothing about the exhibition business, but had a background in congresses and seminars. Like most of us, he said, “The exhibition business is a very dynamic industry and gets into your blood pretty quickly – but you have to h [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-07-26T07:48:22+00:00 July 26th, 2018|Americas, Digital Innovation, Exhibition Industry, Exhibition Marketing, UFI Updates|0 Comments

What is sustainability and why is it important?
What is sustainability and why is it important?

What is sustainability and why is it important?

“A business practice that is economically viable, socially responsible and environmentally friendly is usually regarded as being sustainable. Corporations that include socially responsible and environmentally sound policies as core elements in their growth strategy very often create sustainable economic values,” according to the University of North Florida Center for Sustainable Business Practices. In the business world, sustainability is viewed as a system where a business organization communic [...]

By Stephanie Selesnick| 2018-06-28T15:27:37+00:00 June 28th, 2018|All, Best Practices, Exhibition Industry, UFI Updates|0 Comments

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

About Stephanie Selesnick