All Archives | UFI Blog

Our place in an inclusive future / Standing up for gender equality
Our place in an inclusive future / Standing up for gender equality

Our place in an inclusive future / Standing up for gender equality

Mary Larkin, UFI Incoming President. For those of you who may have missed it, Diversified’s Mary Larkin joined the UFI presidential trio at UFI’s annual congress in St Petersburg earlier this month. As part of her new role, Larkin will work on increasing the number of women in leadership positions within the global exhibition industry. Her newfound platform to advocate gender equality and diversity is underpinned by a call for action. Consider the Thursday afternoon panel discussion in St Pete [...]

By Antony Reeve-Crook| 2018-11-16T08:53:40+00:00 November 15th, 2018|All, Exhibition Industry, UFI News, UFI Updates|0 Comments

What does Matchmaking mean for exhibitions?
What does Matchmaking mean for exhibitions?

What does Matchmaking mean for exhibitions?

Stephan Forseilles, Head of Technology and Digital Transformation, Easyfairs. Matchmaking has been an ‘on/off’ topic in events for at least 15 years. From the ages of manual matching in Excel to the era of artificial intelligence being the promise of effortless and real-time recommendations, things have evolved. But not so much. Most of us are still selling to exhibitors the right to annoy visitors. So, as usual in that situation, I remove my “organiser” hat and look at it from my “frequent vi [...]

By Guest| 2018-11-09T14:17:59+00:00 November 9th, 2018|All, Best Practices, Digital Innovation, Exhibition Marketing, Topics, UFI Updates|0 Comments

Glimpse ahead
Glimpse ahead

Glimpse ahead

Kai Hattendorf, UFI MD/CEO. It’s that time of year when many of you will be booking your trips to the upcoming UFI Global Congress. The UFI team is busy getting ready for what is sure to be another memorable meeting. (If you still need to register, just click here). After Shanghai in 2016 and Johannesburg in 2017, our industry’s global annual gathering will take place in St. Petersburg (Russia). It’s been a memorable year for our industry, so there are many issues to discuss – from M&A to [...]

By Kai Hattendorf| 2018-10-19T12:09:46+00:00 October 19th, 2018|All, Exhibition Industry, Exhibition Industry Research, UFI News, UFI Updates|0 Comments

Trade wars – What is your plan?
Trade wars – What is your plan?

Trade wars – What is your plan?

Trade wars are poison for our industry. I think this is a statement the majority would support. By Tesi Baur, CEO MBB-Consulting Group Exhibitions rely on free-trade, on a non-political platform for open discussion, on building relationships with customers, suppliers, partners and even competitors. The opportunity to trade without the constraints of suffocating red-tape, to conduct business in foreign regions without complex bureaucracy and to have the opportunity of forging partnerships to brea [...]

By Guest| 2018-10-12T09:20:26+00:00 October 12th, 2018|All, Americas, Asia – Pacific, Best Practices, Europe, Exhibition Industry, Middle East – Africa, Topics, UFI Updates|0 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

Stephane Garelli on the economy & the exhibition industry
Stephane Garelli on the economy & the exhibition industry

Stephane Garelli on the economy & the exhibition industry

Stephane Garelli, Professor at IMD, and the founder of the World Competitiveness Centre and Professor at the University of Lausanne. With a few weeks to go to UFI's Global Congress, we reached out to Stephane Garelli, who will deliver a keynote about global economic developments. He is a Professor at IMD, and the founder of the World Competitiveness Centre and Professor at the University of Lausanne. Stephane’s work focuses primarily on how countries and businesses compete in International mar [...]

By Monika Fourneaux-Ceskova| 2018-10-01T14:03:44+00:00 October 1st, 2018|All, Americas, Asia – Pacific, Best Practices, Europe, Exhibition Industry, Middle East – Africa, UFI Updates|0 Comments

Mexico’s triumph and tribulation in Trump’s wake
Mexico’s triumph and tribulation in Trump’s wake

Mexico’s triumph and tribulation in Trump’s wake

As we land in Mexico for the first UFI LatAm Conference (World Trade Centre, Mexico City, 18-19 September) we do so on firmer ground following last month’s Trump-Mexico trade agreement. “Markets rose in relief when America and Mexico announced on 27 August that they had agreed on changes to the [24-year-old] North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),” published The Economist the day after Trump made Congress aware of his intent. The revised pact between the US and Mexico (America’s third bigge [...]

By Antony Reeve-Crook| 2018-09-18T14:19:01+00:00 September 18th, 2018|All, Americas, Best Practices, Exhibition Industry, Exhibition Industry Research, UFI Updates|0 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

Global connections
Global connections

Global connections

Kai Hattendorf, UFI MD/CEO. Right now, our industry is running on all cylinders – that was a clear takeaway from the latest UFI Global Barometer, released this summer. For the first time in ten years, all four global regions reported a positive turnover development at the same time. More importantly, in terms of operating profit, most companies maintained a good level of performance in 2017, and over 40% of companies from all regions declared an increase of more than 10% compared to 2016. Howe [...]

By Kai Hattendorf| 2018-09-06T15:02:03+00:00 September 6th, 2018|All, Exhibition Industry|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