In January of 2024, the Exhibitions Industry Collective was born. Made up of six exhibition industry organizations (ECA, ESCA, EDPA, IAEE, IAVM, and SISO), the collective was created “To bring our shared knowledge together to create a visible, meaningful and lasting foothold on careers in the exhibitions ecosystem,” said IAEE president and CEO, Marsha Flanagan, M.Ed., CEM in the organization’s first press release. So large and so varied, the exhibition industry not only has many interests and issues at stake, but many groups representing those interests and tackling those issues.
Nearly two years later, Flanagan was inspired by the veritable who’s who of association leaders attending Expo! Expo! 2025 to bring those leaders together to, as moderator Tommy Goodwin says, “Update each other and identify potential areas of collaboration, mutual support, etc. going forward.”
Gregor Bischkopf (IFES), Amy Calvert (EIC), Shawn Cheng (ICCA), Bob Dobinski (EACA), Martha Donato (UFI), Julio Cesar Bojorquez Hernandez, (AMPROFEC / COCAL), Kevin Hinton (U.S. Travel), Kyle Jordan (LGBT MPA), Julie Kagy (ESCA), Irene Koomans and Lucien Lawson (IELA), Dasher Lowe (EDPA), Trevor Mitchell (IAVM), Jennifer Murray (CAEM), Vinnie Polito (SISO), Jessica Sibila (The Exhibitor Advocate), Junior Tauvaa (PCMA), Gregory Yap (the Singapore Tourism Board), Tommy Goodwin (ECA), with Marsha Flanagan (IAEE), came together for as unprecedented an exhibition industry associations meeting as one could imagine.
“We’ve recognized for some time that our members overlap, our priorities intersect and our challenges are often shared,” says Flanagan. “Convening at Expo! Expo! provided the right setting to bring leaders together and focus on how we can work smarter, not harder, to reduce duplication, strengthen advocacy, and ensure our industry speaks with greater clarity and cohesion.”
Getting together and working together were important starting goals for Flanagan. She expressly wants to build structure around collaboration and reinforce a unified, forward-looking voice for what she calls “the exhibitions ecosystem.”
Tommy Goodwin, who moderated on Flanagan’s behalf says, “The meeting itself was a very robust exchange among the associations represented. There is truly an impressive array of work being undertaken by the associations in 2026, and it was great to hear about it from those who are driving those efforts.”
That alone bodes well for the industry and the associations’ interests, especially with many of those interests coinciding. Notes Flanagan, “What stood out was just how consistent our challenges are across organizations, particularly around workforce development, industry awareness, and leadership pipelines. It reinforced that these are not individual association issues; they are ecosystem issues. That realization strengthens the case for alignment, because if we are all facing similar pressures, coordinated solutions will be more effective than isolated ones.”
Alignment is something that Flanagan comes back to when asked what excited her the most coming out of the meeting. “The spirit of alignment,” she says. “There was no territorial energy, only a shared recognition that our impact grows when we coordinate our efforts.”
That isn’t all. “The willingness to move beyond informal collaboration and toward more intentional coordination whether around research, workforce development, advocacy or sustainability,” she says, impressed. “That mindset signals maturity within our industry leadership.”
EDPA’s Dasher Lowe observed that willingness and maturity. “It was exciting to see the industry leaders come together in one room to share ideas on collaborating on efforts to make our industry stronger.” He notes, “That has not always been the case in the past.”
Now Lowe is very encouraged. Remarking that all agreed that a common voice for the industry was important, he says, “We are all advocating to build awareness for the exhibitions industry and showcasing the positive economic impact our channel delivers.”
Among topics discussed, sustainability was a common interest. “There are many sustainability efforts afoot,” Goodwin says. “It was good to hear about them from the associations undertaking them, as well as see how they interact and support each other.”
When asked about sustainability, Flanagan comments, “Sustainability is an ideal area for alignment.” Flanagan wants more consistent language and shared measurement frameworks to help to reduce confusion. She also finds value in sharing case studies and best practices rather than building similar, but separate, initiatives. Advocating together for approaches that support the industry’s spectrum of organizers, venues, contractors and exhibitors is a major goal for her. As she says, “When sustainability efforts are coordinated, the impact multiplies.”
Lowe was surprised by all the different sustainability efforts he heard. Coming together to share information and coordinate was discuused. “We all have common principles and many desire to bring them together into a common foundational effort.”
But the meeting was not about a single initiative. Flanagan expects deeper cooperation around AI integration, workforce development, and global market dynamics as well. And that’s just for 2026.
What a success for Flanagan, for all the other leaders involved, and for the exhibition industry as a whole. Cooperation, coordination, and connection. A coming together for organizations representing people in the business of bringing people together.
“We are a global connector of commerce and community,” Flanagan says. “And our associations play a critical role in shaping its future. This gathering was about strengthening a mindset of collaboration, reducing fragmentation and committing to work smarter together. That spirit of intentional alignment will continue to guide our collective efforts.”
