News Feature
Women’s network launches training
programme, chapter and website
Women in Exhibitions, founder, Oana Cipca tells EN about
recent developments across the network
The Women in Exhibitions network
(WIE) has launched a new training
programme, a new chapter in Dubai,
and a website to support women in the
exhibitions industry.
The new training programme, called
Thinkshop, is in collaboration with
sales agency Shinesmith and kicks off
with a webinar titled ‘Influencing and
Negotiating’ on 19 June 2020.
Shinesmith’s academy directors,
George Stylianou and Ian Washington-
Smith, have developed the programmes
for the Women in Exhibitions Network.
Washington-Smith said: “The
methods we use focus on a range of
techniques which enable professionals
to maximise the benefits of rational
thinking that can be easily learned and
applied in a short space of time. Our
overall objective is to empower every
individual to realise the value they
bring to their current, and any future
role. We brought this together under
our overall training programme, Our
Academy.”
Further courses will look at selfbranding,
managing conflict, managing
change and managing stress.
WIE founder, Oana Cipca, said: “In
Shinesmith, we found the perfect
partner to integrate a number of
tailor-made online and live training
programmes to make training and
education accessible to professionals
in our industry. During the many
conversations with our community,
we often heard that we needed to
design programmes that help to
unlock people’s potential by providing
greater focus and improving overall
performance in all areas of work and
life.”
The WIE has formed a new Middle
East Chapter to help further improve
its global reach. The two founding
partners are Victoria James, event
director at Hyve Group, and Samantha
Kane-Macdonald, a freelance event and
exhibition director. Both are located in
Dubai.
The new chapter joins other chapters
in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
and the UK, which was launched at
International Confex and supported
by EN.
James said: “It has been really
exciting to take this concept to our
network in the region. I have worked
with so many incredible women in the
exhibitions industry in Dubai, who are
under-represented for myriad reasons
in a complex region. There is so much
strength in a rich network in the Middle
East given its transient nature and
incredible potential, and I am pleased
to have the opportunity to drive this
forward.”
Kane-Macdonald added: “The events
industry in the Middle East has
witnessed continued growth over the
last four decades, and the role that
women play has become more apparent
in recent years. The timing is right for
the Middle East Chapter launch which
will provide a much-needed networking
platform to connect women in the
industry, many of whom are business
owners and freelancers. We also plan
to provide coaching and mentoring
14 — June