Jamming together
e have just wrapped
W up a busy first half of the year – with UFI events around the world , and UFI ’ s presence at many industry events again in person . And it does feel good to live again face-to-face . Now we are shifting our focus to the 89th UFI Global Congress this November in Muscat , Sultanate of Oman . Work on the programming is underway . To reflect the financial pressures that many parts of the industry still feel , we are – for the first time – offering an early bird rate , which will allow you to lock in last year ’ s reduced ticket price for this year . Please see www . uficongress . org for details .
Beyond this , planning has already started for our 2023 events , with the 90th Global Congress in Las Vegas , the GCS , and our regional conferences . You can always find the up-to-date calendar for confirmed events at www . ufi . org / our-events / ufievents-calendar
For the first time since the 1970s , UFI will return to North America in 2023 for the Global Congress . In recent years , our association ’ s
Kai Hattendorf UFI managing director / CEO
Kai Hattendorf , UFI chief executive , provides his regular update , underlining the importance of collaboration and revealing how to download the exhibition playlist ...
presence and reach in this market has grown organically , as more and more UFI members expand their business there , and as we have welcomed US-based businesses into our organisation . UFI research is a highly regarded source of information , and our advocacy work globally in collaboration with all our association members continues to make an impact .
Today , UFI works closer than ever with the Society of Independent Show Organizers ( SISO ). We are a founding partner of ‘ Go Live Together ’, and now one of the industry associations funding and backing Washington , DCbased Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance ( ECA ), the North American counterpart to the EEIA office we are already backing with EMECA in Brussels . In fact , I am writing this column on my way back from the annual summer conference of ESCA ( the Exhibition Services & Contractors Association ), which has recently joined UFI as an industry association as well . There , I again experienced how we all benefit from our US colleagues being more connected to the global industry community .
To reflect all these developments , we are happy that we can now draw on the experience and expertise of two trusted US colleagues . Martha Donato and Marty Glynn from MAD Event Management will work with us to evolve further in North America , acting as our official representatives . As our industry evolves , UFI also evolves as your global association .
In closing – I owe you all a playlist . In my last column , I asked you to share songs for our industry ’ s summer soundtrack this year . At our recent Global CEO Summit , we collected more entries and put the playlist on Spotify . So – if you want – you will need to visit this page on the digital version of Exhibition World to download it .
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 4 2022 9