UFI Seminar Gives A Leg Up To Regional Exhibitions Industry

Expo Centre Sharjah takes part in Doha seminar

Data management is emerging as the key driver of success for the regional as well as the global exhibitions and meetings industry, a prestigious international gathering of industry professionals was told in the UFI Seminar held in Doha recently. Nearly 90 chairmen, chief executive officers, directors and senior executives of regional and international exhibition organisers, fairground owners and tourism authorities took part in the UFI Open Seminar in the Middle East held in Doha from March 18 to 20.

Expo Centre Sharjah, the regional host of UFI Middle East & Africa Regional Office, was represented by its CEO, Mr. Saif Mohammed Al Midfa, at the three-day gathering.

“The UFI seminar has come at the right time for the regional exhibitions industry. Mega events like the World Expo 2020 and the Fifa World Cup 2022 have placed the region’s exhibition centres and organisers at a vantage point. Events like this will help the regional industry face a deluge of challenges and opportunities that will be coming its way,” said Mr. Midfa on his return from the event.

The UFI seminar looked at a variety of tools and strategies that can be used to support exhibitors, the importance of developing a service vision to create quality service behaviour throughout organizations, the need to identify customer preferences via data management, and evaluating the economic and social aspects of exhibition’s communication and promotion policies to better understand the long-term impact of an event.

The issue of data and measurement was a key topic at the seminar. “There is so much data available finding the right mix is often a challenge,” Mr. Jochen Witt, CEO, JWC (Germany), told the gathering.

“Data on industries, exhibitors and visitors is essential. This can range from satisfaction data to company and product specific data as well as preference structures. It is essential to focus on data which is capable of delivering actionable results. We have seen too much data being collected with no possibility to turn such data into action,” he said.

Johnson Ng, Senior Manager, Hong Kong Development Council, presented a seminar on ‘Measuring the Effectiveness of Marketing and Promotional Campaigns for Exhibitors’.

“When evaluating the effectiveness of marketing tools, several key quantitative aspects are to be considered such as number of reach, response rate in terms of online click-through, both online/offline registration, and show up rate, etc.,” he said.

Other speakers at the event included Mr. Paul Woodward, UFI Managing Director (France); Mr. Issa Al Muhannadi, Chairman, Qatar Tourism Authority; Dr Stefan Eckert, Senior Vice-President, Services, Koelnmesse (Germany); Mr. John Blaskey, Managing Director, The Exhibition Agency Limited (UK); and Mr. Jerad Bachar, Strategic Planning Consultant, Saudi Exhibition and Convention Bureau (KSA).

The UFI — The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry – currently represents 639 member organisations and 47 associate members. It organizes seminars dedicated to the professionals of the exhibition industry of a specific region, mainly outside Europe.

Emirate:  Sharjah

Date: Mar 24, 2014

Back