With three weeks to go until this year’s UFI European Conference in Verona, Italy, the most international gathering of European exhibition industry leaders, as well as colleagues from Asia and the Americas, organizers are thrilled to add high profile speakers to the line-up. The conference will be hosted by the Veronafiere Congress Centre (pictured above), a UFI member since 1932 celebrating its 120th anniversary.
More than 150 senior executives from close to 30 countries are already signed up to attend May 2-4 in Verona. Speaking at the event will be Sophie Hackford, a global expert on the impact emerging technologies have on our lives and communities, and as such on our business as well. Prepare to challenge your thinking around the impact of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. With countries like France announcing multi-billion-euro programs to develop expertise and leadership around AI, what does this mean for the exhibition world? Not only will Hackford give a presentation created especially for UFI on this topic, she will also run a deep-dive session giving attendees the chance to discuss and explore these opportunities for their businesses.
Also on the topic of digital impact, the three “digital musketeers” from UFI’s Digital Innovation Committee will be back after their top-rated session in Johannesburg: Tesi Baur, Stephan Forseilles, and Gunnar Heinrich will delve deeper into trends and implementations.
Sessions will also take place on security in the industry–with Ascential’s director of security, Richard West, and Teri Toennies from the LA Auto Show–as well as the cultural challenge of getting your staff, teams and workforces on board and committed to change–with Milton Exhibit Group’s Eddie Choi.
Finally, Francis Friedman will be the closing speaker on Friday, bringing together many of the topics in a way that’s useful and relevant for the companies who exhibit.
UFI’s European Conference has previously been hosted in Cologne (2017), Basel (2016), and Istanbul (2015). The conference is open to UFI members and non-members. Based on data from Explori, a global UFI research partner, participants rate the conference regularly among the very best opportunities for industry networking and best practice learning in the industry.
“In 2018, it will have been exactly 20 years since UFI last held a major industry event in Verona–and we look forward to coming back”, said Kai Hattendorf, UFI managing director/CEO. “Our delegates can already look forward to a unique event, packed with networking, timely content, and some very special Italian moments in the program.”
Veronafiere is the leading direct organizer of exhibitions in Italy, and Italy’s number two in terms of sales turnover. Veronafiere’s venue consists of 309,000sqm of available exhibitions space, 155,000sqm of which is indoor space divided into 13 halls.
UFI is the leading global association of the world’s tradeshow organizers and exhibition center operators, as well as the major national and international exhibition associations, and selected partners of the exhibition industry. It’s main goal is to represent, promote and support the business interests of its members and the exhibition industry by directly representing around 50,000 exhibition industry employees globally, and working closely with its 50 national and regional associations members. Currently, there are 752 member organizations in 86 countries around the world. More than 983 international trade fairs proudly bear the UFI approved label, a quality guarantee for visitors and exhibitors alike. UFI members continue to provide the international business community with a unique marketing media aimed at developing outstanding face-to-face business opportunities. For more info, visit http://ufievent.org/verona2018/ or email events@ufi.org.
