The board of global association for the exhibition industry UFI has taken the decision to run its 2020 Congress as a ‘glocalised’ event rather than a Congress in the usual format, which had been scheduled for Muscat in Oman in November.
The UFI statement, 9 June, said that, with Covid-19-related global travel restrictions expected to continue over the coming months, the board had decided to adjust the format of this year’s Global Congress.
Instead of holding the event in one place, the UFI Global Congress 2020 will instead adopt a ‘glocalised’ approach and take as its main theme ‘Resilience’.
The Congress 2020 host, the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (OCEC), will now welcome UFI in 2022.
The 2021 Global Congress will take place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
UFI said it remained fully committed to holding the Global Congress in 2020 as a face-to-face event and promised to organise different formal and informal face-to-face and online events where members could network and share ideas.
“The UFI Global Congress is our industry’s annual global face-to-face meeting. We want to ensure that as many of our colleagues as possible can attend in person. So, this year, we are ‘glocalising’ the UFI Global Congress. In November, we will run a number of events around the world to bring the UFI member community together both on site and online,” said Mary Larkin (pictured), UFI President, and President of Diversified Communications USA.
“We will organise different formal and informal face-to-face and online events where members can network and share ideas. Exhibitions and tradefairs in the post-Covid-19 era will play a crucial role in the economic recovery at a local and regional level and we will need to work together to support each other, as our industry always does,” said Kai Hattendorf, UFI Managing Director and CEO.
Dates and locations for the ‘glocalised’ Congress are to be announced later in the summer.
“We are looking forward to seeing our industry colleagues from all around the world – and we want them to enjoy our beautiful country Oman where the mountains meet the sea and to experience the genuine hospitality and friendship. A virus will not stop us from doing this. We are thrilled and excited to be welcoming everyone in the Sultanate of Oman in two years’ time,” added Said Salim Al Shanfari, CEO of the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre.
Visit the Congress website here.
