UFI
UFI ’ s running man leaving the association in great shape
As UFI CEO and MD Kai Hattendorf prepared to leave his post at the end of 2024 , he looked back at the highlights of his tenure at the association and forwards to the future
ell us about your
T early days at UFI , how it all started ? In my first week in charge in Paris , after the UFI Congress in Milan in 2015 , we lived through the Bataclan terror attacks – so one of the very first measures was to set up a system where all team members could connect and report in that they and their families were safe . I then used my first 100 days for one-to-one calls and meetings with all of UFI ’ s senior leadership and the whole team to identify their respective takes on where UFI stood , what was good and what should change . This led to our strategy for the next three years .
In parallel , we pushed ahead right away to launch programmes like ‘ Global Exhibitions Day ’ and the ‘ Next Generations Leadership Grant ’ – both now flagship activities a decade later .
Tell us about the big issues of those first years at UFI ? I was able to build on the great work Vincent Gerard and Paul Woodward had done before , but there was a clear expectation that UFI needed to transform itself . We re-shaped and re-focused a lot internally , breaking down structural silos and establishing key projects and collaborations . This led to some changes in the team , and we used these opportunities to make the team more international and add some industry experience .
A big theme for the first years was restructuring and expanding UFI ’ s research work , while we needed to re-invent and more clearly position the UFI events . For instance , we completely reimagined the European summer event into the European Conference .
How did priorities and trends change and how did you ( re ) calibrate your approach ? My UFI tenure clearly splinters into three segments : ‘ BC – before Covid ’, ‘ Covid ’, and ‘ PC – post Covid ’.
We had started working on a complete relaunch of UFI ’ s education programme when the pandemic hit . We switched to fully remote work within a week and powered through the darkest , weirdest time we have all seen .
Besides running dozens of digital events – up to three a week – we focused on keeping our community connected . And I had never thought I would find myself on TV stating that our sector had lost more than 90 % of business , essentially overnight .
What got us through this was that we all worked together . We discussed every day what we at UFI could do that would make a positive impact . We pivoted , adapted , and experimented – and most of the things that we tried worked .
As an industry , what got us through was the belief of investors , staff , and customers that face-to-face would come back . And whatever situation we faced – travel regulations , running venues as vaccination centres , defining health and safety protocols – we found solutions . In hindsight , Covid really focused us on advocacy work . Afterwards , we used what we had learned on key advocacy projects like the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative .
Tell us more about your championing of the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative . This started with the Scottish Event Campus asking UFI for our industry ’ s way to run a major global event sustainably – they were hosting the World Climate Conference COP26 in 2021 . It led to me meeting up with the UNFCCC management who are organising these , and the pledge to unite the industry behind a sector-wide initiative to set us on the right path to be climate neutral in line with the UN ’ s Paris Climate Accord , bringing in partner associations like ICCA and AIPC . Within weeks , around 100 leading businesses from across the sector developed the NZCE pledge , and we went to Glasgow with senior industry leaders to present this initiative at COP26 .
After the initial year , UFI handed it over to the Joint Meetings Industry Council .
8 Issue 6 2024 www . exhibitionworld . co . uk