BELGIUM – The 2011 edition of UFI’s European Open Seminar has closed in Belgium, equaling the event's peak delegate attendance record.
The seminar, which set out to challenge the way the industry views the exhibition organising process, took place at Flanders Expo in Ghent on June 20 to 22, hosted by Belgian organiser and parent company of easyFairs, Artexis.
The event also saw a key panel session featuring Reed development director Howard Klein, UBM Live CEO Simon Foster and consultant Wolfgang Shellkes on how the two exhibition giants work on integrating their recently-acquired events. “If you want a happy seller when acquiring events, you have to learn to sell yourself first,” claimed Klein, while Foster pushed the maxim “Merge – don’t takeover”.
John van der Valk, MD of exhibitions and cross media at VNU Exhibitions Europe, spoke about the successful exhibition lifecycle management, making the key point that “not only do we have the ability and the tools to gauge the lifecycle of an event, but by observing and analysing we also have the ability to prolong it”.
Other speakers included easyFairs’ Jean-Francois Quentin, Media 10’s Rob Nathan, AMR International’s Jonny Baynes and social media evangelist Clo Willaerts.
UFI also used to event to announce next year’s Middle East Open Seminar would take place in Cape Town, South Africa, while the 2012 Asia Open Seminar will be held in Shenzen, China. The 2012 CEO forum takes place in Istanbul, capital of the emerging exhibition market Turkey.
More than 200 participants from over 35 countries attended the seminar, which was moderated by CEO of Dutch consultancy Pitchmanagement, Ronnie Overgoor.
UFI MD Paul Woodward, said: “As an industry, we are constantly seeking new ideas and concepts that allow us to renew our value as the best face-to-face marketing medium in the business.”
For detailed coverage from the event, see the August issue of the new-look Exhibition World.
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