Music to the industry ’ s ears
t our UFI LATAM
A
Conference in Buenos Aires , Argentina , earlier this month , the UFI Running Club collaborated with the Midnight Runners , turning our usual group jog into something of a run and an exercise routine at the same time . The power of music transformed the experience for everyone .
Inspired by this , I am writing to share a playlist that characterises our industry right now . I want to challenge you to join , especially as Global Exhibitions Day is just around the corner . Share a song that expresses a recent experience you had in our industry , a title that showcases or symbolises what is happening in our industry , or a tune that describes the mood around you and your colleagues .
Here are five songs to get our playlist started :
Heaven is a Place on Earth , by Belinda Carlisle At our recent conferences in Poznan and Buenos Aires , we gave the stage to exhibitors . We asked them to share their expectations and feedback after returning to face-toface exhibitions after the pandemic .
Enter Santiago Bravo , head of advertising , promotions and customer experience at Scania in
Kai Hattendorf UFI managing director / CEO
Latin America . With all the beauty of the Spanish language , he said : “ Being back at an exhibition was like touching heaven with our hands ”. This is a great metaphor to describe the pent-up demand we are seeing around the world for face-toface business meetings .
Changes , by David Bowie David Bowie died ( too early ) in 2016 , just before the Global CEO Summit in Munich , Germany . Someone had the idea to play Bowie songs during breaks , and at some point , they played Changes . Today , this tune is a metaphor for the challenge to change how our industry operates ( think Net Zero Carbon for example ) and the difficulties , as well as potential we may have .
No Time to Die , by Billie Eilish No – this is not about our industry . But it is the latest James Bond theme song and it finds its place on this list as a reference to this year ’ s group of Next Generation Leaders . They are a great group , and they met colleagues for the first time in Poznań at the UFI European Conference . Over the next months , they will work on a new staffing narrative for our industry – not as agents of ‘ Her Majesty ’ s Secret Service ’, but as agents of change for all of us . When they posed for
Don ’ t Look Back in Anger , by Oasis / I ’ m Still Standing , by Elton John Ok , I have a weak spot for 1990s BritPop . Others prefer classic pop . So take your pick on this . The message is the same : with two pandemic years behind us all , and with most markets reopened , we are indeed still standing . And we need to , because the pace of recovery is fast . Really fast .
At the beginning of the year , our Barometer research forecast our industry globally to return this year to + 70 % of the revenues we had before the pandemic . This number could even be higher now , as the next Barometer might show . We are doing the survey for it in these weeks , so we will have new numbers over the summer – and for sure there will be another song we can add to this list for those .
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 3 2022 11