Women in Exhibitions has launched a new chapter in the Netherlands with plans to run the first WIE International Summit in 2023.
The Women in Exhibitions Network (WIE) was set up to fulfil the mission of empowering women in the industry whilst helping to nurture the next generation of female leaders. Professionals members represent exhibition organisers, venues and suppliers in the event industry whose business is related to the organisation and facilitation of exhibitions or trade shows.
The new Netherlands chapter follows the success of chapters in the UK, North America and Germany and aims to facilitate networking opportunities, and introduce educational programmes.
The chapter, together with Women in Exhibition International, will launch the first WIE International Summit in 2023, they said.
Founder of WIE International Oana Cipca said: “Launching an international event is something we wanted to do for some time now and preparations are in full swing.”
WIE said that whilst the Netherlands exhibitions industry does not suffer with the challenge of attracting women in C-level in positions, it does have a challenge in attracting the right level of skilled staff post-covid.
The Dutch board of the chapter is formed by Natasja O’Connor (head of event and exhibitor success at Jaarbeurs), Cornelien Baijens (head of event business / CCO at Easyfairs Netherlands), Marieke van Eijndhoven (business development manager at Libéma), Silvia Forroova (director commercial product manager at Informa Markets) and Oana Cipca (business Development manager MECC Maastricht and founder of the Women in Exhibitions Network).
Women and men from the Dutch exhibition industry have been invited to join forces, share knowledge and focus on creating awareness about our industry among schools and SMEs.
“We want to help our HR departments promote the industry, give guest lectures in education institutions. We need to invest in promoting our industry as it is one of the most dynamic & exciting industries to work in” said president of the Netherlands chapter, Natasja O’Connor.
To celebrate the launch of the new chapter a Dutch BBQ is planned for 13 September.
