International
Eric Everard
UFI comes to the UK
15-17 May
saw the UFI
European
Conference
come to the
UK for the first
time, bringing
international
organisers from
Europe and
further afield
to the NEC
for content,
networking and
debate
Content and slides
from the UFI
European Conference
sessions will be made
available online in the
UFI members area
(www.ufi.org)
12 — June
T
he sheer diversity and
breadth of the exhibition
industry is never clearer than
when it gathers together, and
the UFI European Conference
in May was a fantastic example
of this. The conference kicked
off with meetings of the
associations committee and
the European chapter followed
by a welcome from UFI’s Nick
Dugdale-Moore.
EN editor Nicola Macdonald
also attended the meeting of the
Women in Exhibitions Network,
a meetup co-founded by MECC
Maastricht’s Oana Cipca that
takes place regularly alongside
UFI events around the globe.
Brexit means…?
The conference kicked off with
a keynote panel session covering
the potential impact of Brexit
on the industry, featuring ITV
political editor Robert Peston
and Nick de Bois, former chief of
staff to the secretary of state for
exiting the European Union.
Peston told delegates that
Brexit had been the greatest
period of political uncertainty he
had experienced in his over 30
years as a journalist, surpassing
even the recession of 2008.
“In many ways that was a
much less scary time for me than
what we are living through now,”
he said. “The reason I say that is
because when you can see what
the problem is you can also talk
to people about how we are going
to fix it.
“The problem with where we
are now is that the uncertainties
are so significant.”
De Bois added: “Trust of
politicians has never been at a
lower point, but to give another
referendum would be a huge
breach of trust.
When it came to the direct
effect on the industry, and
specifically on transport of
good between the UK and the
continent, de Bois commented:
“Will there be delays? Will there
be hold ups? Will there be more
form filling? If we leave with no
deal, I think it’s probably safe to
say that will be the case.
“However, even in no deal,
there’ve been a series of
transitional agreements put
in place so that our trucks can
drive without having to do lots
of bureaucratic processes across
Europe.
“For me, the biggest threat
to this industry is, how do I get
clients to commit when this
government’s biggest failure
has been to create such a lack
of certainty about the future of
Britain in Brexit?”
Paths to success
Next to take to the stage was
Eric Everard, founder and CEO
of Easyfairs, who took a practical
look at the growth strategies of
launches, acquisitions, geo-
clones and joint ventures.
“At Easyfairs we have no