EW meets the 2022 NGL Grant winners
EW sat down with the winners of the Next Generation Leadership Grant at the UFI European Conference
FI , the global association of the exhibition industry ,
U has named the six winners of its 2022 Next Generation Leadership Grant ( NGL ).
The UFI NGL Grant promotes young leadership in the exhibition industry , rewarding professionals who show clear initiatives in driving change and innovation in their area of activity .
EW editorial director , Martin Fullard , caught up with the recipients of the award at the UFI European Conference , 4-6 May , in Poznań , Poland .
L-R : Justine Rabel Maria Victoria Piñeres
Monika Baro Company : VNU Exhibitions Asia Pacific Role : Project manager Country : Thailand
Daniella Galante Company : RX Africa Role : Senior digital marketing executive Country : South Africa
Joseph Kowalsky Company : X LLC Role : Show director Country : US
What does winning the NGL Grant mean to you ? Firstly , it ’ s aligned to the objective of my events , which is to shape the next generation in terms of how they can contribute towards game changing disaster and emergency management . So , with the Grant , I ’ m thrilled to be able to shape the young generation ’ s mindset towards contributing tangible impact through the exhibitions and events industry .
What do you believe is the biggest issue facing the industry ? One of the biggest issues is how the pandemic revealed that our industry can be volatile and suscepitble to disasters and other types of crises .
We need to start bringing solutions that attract and retain global talent .
How have you found the process and the mentoring of the programme ? Everything happened so quickly . I found out about getting on the programme around one or two weeks ago [ before the conference ].
I ’ m excited for what ’ s to come . I ’ ve met my fellow mentees , and they ’ re all amazing . We have already connected , and we ’ ve discussed visiting each other in our respective countries . I ’ m excited for the next eight months to learn more from each other .
How will the programme tackle the issues facing the exhibition industry ? The programme is looking at redefining the talent narrative . It ’ s looking at the important issue of why people have left the industry and how we can get those people back .
What does it mean to you getting this grant ? It means I ’ m not crazy . A lot of what I put into my grant application were things that I ’ m applying to my events , communities and brands .
What is the biggest issue the industry is facing ? I think that we ’ re dealing with an image problem . Everyone wants to pigeonhole us as the ‘ events industry ’, but as we ’ ve seen over the past two years , we need to be so much more than that .
I believe we need to rebrand ourselves from the ‘ events industry ’ to the ‘ community building industry ’. Then use that brand to attract talent to do the thing that we ’ re actually doing , which is bringing people together and facilitating opportunities for businesses to thrive .
16 Issue 3 2022 www . exhibitionworld . co . uk