Dear colleagues and friends,

The summer months are  usually a quiet time for many but not at UFI. I’d like to give you an overview of some global projects from our association.

We have released two milestone industry reports and continue the organisation of the UFI Global Congress in Rotterdam.

In July, UFI has released the latest edition of its flagship Global Barometer research, which takes the pulse of the industry. While the results highlight the strong impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the global exhibition industry in 2020, the situation is gradually improving, and there is a strong belief that the sector, primarily driven by physical exhibitions and business events, will bounce back quickly!  This is truly a testimony to the resilience of our industry!

UFI also released key findings about the Status of Sustainability in the exhibition industry. This report aggregates findings and insights from several research projects conducted by UFI on sustainability. The research details result for all regions of the world and shows that exhibitors and visitors believe exhibitions can help them save time and money, while reducing travel to multiple locations and the related carbon footprint.

These reports all came out in the past weeks, and you can read more about them in this UFI Info. For me, this is another highlight of our global association’s tireless work to support the events industry globally.

We also continue to prepare our face-to-face Congress for November! We have been unable to meet as a community since Bangkok in 2019, so this years’ Congress in Rotterdam is the first opportunity to bring our global community face-to-face once again. The UFI Global Congress is our industry’s largest global meeting of the year, combining international networking with unique content. It is an opportunity to gain insight into topics of strategic interest, as well as into the trends and challenges that the exhibition industry is currently facing. As human beings we want more than ever to get back to live events. Join us on site and let’s get back together again, UFI is the best industry platform to reconnect internationally!

Best regards,

Anbu Varathan