UFI to North America?

Reaction from U.S.-based tradeshow industry associations was mostly – but not all – favorable to a proposal that UFI, The Global Assn. for the Exhibition Industry might establish its first chapter in the Western Hemisphere.

The chapter idea was floated by Cliff Wallace, president of the Paris-based association, in the September issue of UFI Info, an online publication that is distributed to members. Wallace, an American, also is managing director of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre and chairman of Hong Kong – Shanghai Venue Management (Zhengzhou).

Wallace told Tradeshow Week that a potential Americas chapter, which would probably be based in North America, still is some time off in the future and there is not a pressing demand for one yet. However, Wallace said, American organizers slowly are becoming more interested in exporting their shows and are looking for opportunities to network and partner with other organizers who have global tradeshow experience.

But Steven Hacker, president of the Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management, said, “I feel toward the possibility of an American UFI chapter the same way UFI would if IAEE organized a European chapter.”

He added that IAEE respects the fact that UFI's largest concentration of members is in Europe and limits its activities there.

“IAEE does have a few members there,” Hacker said, “but we don't view it as a region for expansion, because UFI's already there.”

Most of UFI's members are in Europe, as well as the Middle East and Asia, with China having the most. It maintains offices in Paris; Hong Kong; and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. IAEE is headquartered in Dallas and has offices in Brussels, Belgium, and Singapore.

Wallace said IAEE shouldn't feel threatened and stated unequivocally that UFI does not intend to compete for members with either IAEE or the U.S.-based Society of Independent Show Organizers. He noted that UFI is tagged “The Global Assn. of the Exhibition Industry” for good reason: Most of its members, regardless of what country they live in, tend to be organizers and venues interested in international events. In fact, many UFI members also are active members of industry groups in their own countries.

“There is no good reason for any member of SISO or IAEE to leave the membership of either just because of an interest in globalization or membership in UFI,” Wallace said.

UFI's membership is actually more akin to SISO's than IAEE's, Wallace said, in that they both comprise mostly for-profit entities.

SISO Chairman Britton Jones, president and CEO of Business Journals, said he understood UFI's difficulty with positioning itself as a worldwide tradeshow association without a presence in the world's largest market. He said a Western Hemisphere UFI chapter wouldn't threaten SISO, but noted that IAEE and UFI do compete in some areas, including China.

SISO has a good working relationship with UFI and the organizations' memberships are similar, with the exception of the fact that UFI allows venues to be members, Jones said.

Sponsorships could be a problem if UFI became more active in North America, he added. All the associations go after the same sponsorship dollars, Jones said, and the presence of another association would make it tougher to do that.

“We want to find common ground with UFI, IAEE and American Business Media,” he said. “It makes sense for us all to join forces in efforts for the industry's common good.”

Jones added that, for North American organizers or venue managers interested in expanding outside their region, there is no better industry networking opportunity or data source on the global industry than UFI.

Ned Krause, president of E.J. Krause & Associates and a longtime member of all three organizations, said there is little reason for the two U.S.-based groups to be concerned.

“An UFI chapter for the Americas is just at a strategic-thinking stage,” Krause said.

He and Gregg Caren, SMG vice president for strategic business development and another active participant in all three organizations, agreed the world is shrinking and many major U.S. organizers have substantially increased their efforts to internationalize their events.

Caren said the Intl. Congress & Convention Assn. has been working to connect its primarily European membership base with its peers in the United States and Mexico for a long time.

“So it is not surprising that UFI is looking into the same option,” he added.