UFI
Facing the future together
vents truly have the
E power to trigger emotions and change perceptions – having experienced the Olympics in Paris this summer reinforced that for me yet again . A city transformed , a nation taking a break from politics and economics … and for us event professionals , a moment to step up and shine ( congratulations to all the UFI members companies involved directly and indirectly ) and to showcase what we can accomplish ( you need an arena converted from handball to weightlifting in 43 hours ? A stadium for Modern Pentathlon in the gardens of Versailles ? Sure !). Spirits were high in Paris this summer , for sure .
Just as positive is the mood across India – where we took a UFI delegation to Mumbai and Delhi to connect with the new and improved venues and the growing and maturing Indian exhibition industry . You feel the same optimism in the Gulf region – UFI launched a new education programme , working with Tahaluf for a successful pilot in Riyadh , and we will follow up on the market opportunities there shortly .
Completing this trio of fast-growing and attractive markets are Mexico and Brazil . I am writing these lines on my way back from UFI ’ s firstever Americas Conference , where colleagues from around 20 countries
Above : Kai Hattendorf , UFI managing director / CEO
took stock of the industry ’ s postpandemic recovery and plotted the way ahead with bullish outlooks for the major markets across the region ( echoing what I heard and saw a few weeks prior in Sao Paulo at UBRAFE ’ s inaugural Experience Expo ).
Against this backdrop of optimism and good news , major changes are ahead for our industry , driven by geopolitics , more and tighter regulations around data and climate , economic developments , AI , and – as always – our customers pushing us to serve them better .
We discussed internally for a long time how to best capture this into the theme for this year ’ s UFI Congress – “ evolution ” was too weak , and “ storms of change ” too strong . We settled on “ Changes 2 Chances ” – which captures some of the crossroads we will face soon .
If one thing is eternal in our industry , it is the constant change – it is what keeps our industry going strong . And so , it is only natural that , now and then , there also is a change in UFI management .
I have had the honour and pleasure to serve this association as its CEO since 2015 – a long time indeed . It is time to change perspective , both for UFI and for me personally , and as you will have read , I will leave UFI at the end of this year .
I am truly grateful for the many , many calls and messages so many of you sent after we announced this . This is a great industry , and I intend to stay around in my next role .
But first , I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Cologne in November at the UFI Global Congress to celebrate our industry and look ahead to the future together . EW
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 5 2024 9