UFI Congress Tackles Economic Challenges

The economy was on the minds of more than 350 exhibition industry leaders from 58 nations who gathered Nov. 12-14 in Istanbul, Turkey, for the 75th Congress of UFI, The Global Assn. of the Exhibition Industry, hosted by HFK Trade Fairs Fuaarcilik. The summit focused on the opportunities and challenges facing exhibitions.

John Shaw, UFI president and chairman of Comexposium Paris, said the current global environment is one that UFI members only had read about in economics books; 18 months ago, no one expected to be faced with such a turbulent economic situation.

“Tough times call for tough decisions, but they also offer opportunities if one is willing to look at the challenges head on. Our 75th UFI Congress brought together the industry's finest leaders to examine the options (that) we have ahead of us,” Shaw added. “As UFI president, I am proud that our association provides such an excellent international forum for the exchange of ideas and information to the advantage of us all.”

At a breakout “CEO Think Tank” session, 17 exhibition and venue CEOs from multiple nations considered the impact of the international financial crisis on exhibitions and reviewed the current state of the exhibition industry, as well as options available for dealing with the crisis.

In other congress happenings, the UFI general assembly approved the election of officers who will serve in 2008-2010, endorsed key decisions on UFI's future strategy and approved the budget for the next financial period.

UFI utilizes an executive trio that is composed of the immediate past president, the incumbent president, who serves for one year, and the incoming president.

In Istanbul, outgoing President Cliff Wallace of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre turned over the UFI presidency to John Shaw, who, in turn, welcomed Manfred Wutzlhofer, chairman of Messe Muenchen in Munich, Germany, as the incoming executive vice president. Wutzlhofer will take over the presidency in 2009 at the UFI Congress.

Following elections to the board of directors, the new executive committee was elected by the new board. The UFI executive committee includes the presidential trio; the three regional chapter chairs; and vice presidents Arie Brienen (Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs, Utrecht, Netherlands), Camillo Cametti (Veronafiere, Verona, Italy), Juan Carlos Gomez (Ifema, Madrid, Spain), Ravinder Sethi (Intl. Exhibition Logistics Associates, Brussels, Belgium), and Andrew Shanks (Reed Exhibitions, London), as well as Treasurer Michael Duck (CMP Asia, Hong Kong) and Secretary Janos Barabas (Hungexpo, Budapest, Hungary).

UFI expanded further this year in Istanbul, welcoming 29 new members from 20 different countries. This brings the total number of member organizations up to 539 in 84 countries worldwide. The general assembly gave its endorsement to 40 events organized by 21 members, bringing the total number of events to have received the official “UFI Approved Event” label to 827.

In closing remarks, Shaw said, exhibitions still are the only face-to-face marketing medium that consistently succeed in bringing together buyers and sellers. To get this story out, communication with stakeholders is essential, he added, and there must be an exchange of ideas and information within the exhibition community and cooperation to develop opportunities to meet the challenge.