UFI
Feel the roar in ‘ 24
appy New Year to all of
H you – this first edition of EW comes out a few weeks into 2024 , and just ahead of Chinese New Year on 10 February , which will ring in the Year of the Dragon . Sound powerful ? It is ! In Chinese mythology , dragons represent courage , creativity and innovation . People born in the Year of the Dragon are charismatic , ambitious , adventurous and fearless . They have confidence , independence and vision . They are not afraid to pursue their dreams and goals .
Kai Hattendorf UFI managing director / CEO
Kai Hattendorf , UFI managing director / CEO
I certainly see some parallels between this and our industry ’ s mindset , as we are , for sure , ambitious and confident right now . As I am writing this , we are going through the findings of the next edition of the UFI Global Barometer – which will confirm the ongoing growth trajectory we find ourselves on as an industry . In essence and on average , 2023 brought us back to 2019 revenues globally , and 2024 will see us ( to stay in dragon terminology ) roar mightily higher still – but let us keep in mind that inflation has helped here
“ More than one third of businesses in our industry are using AI already in their marketing / sales and research and development work ” to a fair share on the revenues side .
The Barometer also shows the growing role of AI in our industry – one of UFI ’ s ‘ Five trends to watch ’ that we released in December ( if you missed them – catch up on our blog : https :// blog . ufi . org / 2023 / 12 / 05 / 5- trends-to-watch-in-2024 / ). There is a broad consensus that this technology impacts our business , and more than one third of businesses in our industry are using AI already in their marketing / sales and research and development work , respectively . As with every tech innovation , everyone has an opinion right now , and this will be an ongoing conversation at our upcoming regional conferences throughout the next months .
To “ pursue our dream and goals ,” we need people – across the world , we are hiring . The Barometer will show that staff numbers will grow the most – proportionally seen in the Middle East & Africa region in 2024 , followed by Asia-Pacific , where the vast majority of businesses want to expand their workforce . Europeans are most cautious here , but even in this part of the world 43 % of businesses plan to expand their workforce .
To get these hires done , we must continue to tell the story of our industry in a better way . I have been thrilled to see the overwhelming response to UFI ’ s talent narrative White Paper that we released last year ( download it at : https :// www . ufi . org / archive-research / attractingcommunity-builders ).
We are sharing this and many other papers and positions on industry issues and advocacy initiatives on UFI ’ s new advocacy portal at ufi . org / advocacy – to make it easier for everyone to access these vital materials .
So – let us be dragons and pursue our and our industry ’ s dreams and goals in 2024 . As always , UFI will be there to support you .
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 1 2024 9