ASIA - UFI’s 80th Annual Congress takes place in South Korea next week (13-16 November), where Comexposium and Viparis CEO Renaud Hamaide will begin his tenure as president of UFI.
Having shadowed outgoing president Chen Xianjin for one year as incoming president, he will take up his new role at the congress at the Coex Convention Centre in Seoul, South Korea.
Hamaide has been CEO of France’s Comexposium group, organiser of five of the top 10 exhibitions in France, since 2010. He is also executive CEO at Viparis, which manages most of the major exhibition venues in Paris.
“It is a responsibility and a considerable undertaking to represent almost 600 organisations in 85 countries,” Hamaide told Exhibition World. “More than ever my role is to represent, promote and support the business interests of each of UFI’s members in relation to their market. Above all, I would like to demonstrate and share my passion and professional experience, coupled with my leadership experience, to promote the exhibitions for which I am currently responsible within the Comexposium Group.”
UFI’s Congress will attract up to 500 high-level delegates from more than 45 countries representing trade fair and exhibition organisers, exhibition centres, associations and service providers related to the exhibition industry.
The event is made up of conferences and presentations about trends and strategic issues facing the exhibition industry, as well as meetings of UFI’s decision-making bodies and internal committees.
Founder of consultancy firm JWC and former UFI president Jochen Witt closed last year’s plenary sessions at the 79th annual UFI Congress tackling the event’s theme 'Where is the growth coming from?'.
Read more about Hamaide's presidential appointment on page 30 in the next issue of Exhibition World.
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