Global Exhibitions Day (#GED18) is a celebration of the exhibition industry and everyone who works in it. Held on the first Wednesday in June each year, the 2018 edition takes place on 6 June. Supported by 41 associations, GED is coordinated by UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.
GED aims to raise awareness on a global scale of the exhibition industry, how it benefits the economy, and the variety of career opportunities it has to offer.
As with previous GED events, industry professionals and students around the world have been very active in the GED online campaign and many organisations are also preparing local events for GED18.
Corrado Peraboni, UFI’s president, says: “The GED initiative started in 2016 and the number of participants has grown rapidly over time. Exhibitions are a unique marketing tool for companies and provide a high return on investment for participants as well as the territories where they are held. The exhibition industry deserves stronger recognition and GED is the perfect opportunity to do this!”
Participating associations around the world are uploading their GED18 activities to the dedicated website www.globalexhibitionsday.org.
There are all kinds of planned initiatives on there already, including the Leaders Forum Dinner in Australia organised by EEAA; the Global Exhibitions Run in France put in place by UNIMEV; ‘The Power of Italian Exhibitions’ campaign ran by AEFI in Italy, the Russian Exhibition Industry Conference in Russia organised by RUEF; and lobbying efforts to legislators in the US through IAEE. Germany’s AUMA has also aligned its annual “Messetreff” event with GED.
The event has been celebrated and promoted across the globe. Delegates have demonstrated their support for GED throughout all kinds of events, including Ungerboeck’s annual event in Disneyland Paris (France), the IEIA Open Seminar in Hyderabad (India), the UFI European Conference in Verona (Italy) and the UFI Asia-Pacific Conference in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
A series of interviews focusing on the dynamic working environment offered by the exhibition industry, have been carried out with employees from La Rural Exhibition Center (Argentina), GES (EMEA), Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (Oman), Poznan International Fair (Poland), MEEC Maastricht (The Netherlands) and many more.
In addition, multiple industry professionals have produced videos showcasing various jobs across the industry. All these videos are available on www.ufi.tv.
GED18 materials prepared by the GED task force cover the following four advocacy messages:
- Exhibitions are a large global industry
- Exhibitions are an effective and sustainable way of doing business
- Exhibitions can contribute to a sustainable world
- The exhibition industry offers a variety of job opportunities
Wherever they are based, exhibition colleagues can download and use all of the campaign materials from www.globalexhibitionsday.org.
GED Online Reporting Tool
The tool is dedicated to collect and share activities related to the Global Exhibitions Day campaign. Please note that the tool registers ENGLISH language ONLY. If you wish to share media releases or other material in your native language, we advise you to use the upload function within the reporting tool. UFI will be reviewing and editing (where necessary) all entries to ensure only GED related activities are shared and all information provided is relevant.
Search projects and activities HERE
Add your project and activity HERE
View the full list of GED partners here
