Showcasing #EventTech at the UFI Global Congress in Johannesburg

Next week we will welcome over 400 delegates from 56 countries to Johannesburg for our annual Global Congress, UFI’s most important members-only event. It is always the people that make the event and this year we have a great crowd already signed up, so we are confident of another successful event. Sandton CC is a perfect venue for this meeting, a compact, modern venue connected to two of the official hotels, the others a short walk away, and all this only metres from the famous Mandela Square in Johannesburg.

The theme this year is “Raising the Odds - Pressures and Profits in the exhibition industry” and we have some great speakers and sessions lined up, to make sure that everyone will have some important and practical takeaways at the end. Many have noted that after 10 years, this will be Jochen Witt’s last “Global Industry Review” presentation, a perennial highlight of the event. There are too many other speakers to list here, I will just say that personally I am looking forward to interviewing Jerry Kallman Sr. about his experiences of organising national pavilions at international shows since 1963!

Away from the “hard work” we are in store for a treat too from our host Craig Newman of Johannesburg Expo – I won’t spoil the surprise about the Gala Dinner, but it won’t be you typical UFI Gala Dinner that’s for sure.. 

We also have a diverse number of technology companies that are joining us as sponsors and partners, who in part thanks to the Xchange Theatre next Wednesday, also get to contribute to the content of the event. Yesterday I was giving a presentation about the future of the exhibition industry and where will disruption come from.  It’s hard to say – hotels (AirBnb) taxis (Uber) etc did not see disruption coming before it was too late. Hopefully in the exhibition industry we can disrupt ourselves as Jane Risby-Rose said at the recent AEO Conference – certainly that’s something the exhibition is very good at. make no mistake we will have to adapt though, as the visitor and exhibitor of the future will not put up with the terrible levels of customer experience they experience now. (NB – watch out for the session where we unveil our new co-authored research with Explori about exhibitor satisfaction – it’s dynamite)

One thing is certain, technology will play an increasingly important role in this going forward. The process of digitisation of ALL businesses, not just the exhibition industry, is impossible to deny. In our recent Global Exhibition Barometer we started tracking this process in our industry, and you can check out the results in our Global Digitisation Index data here. So what will the future landscape of EventTech and ExpoTech look like? 

Next week I look forward to hearing about the following topics / questions from companies that might not be new to the exhibition industry, but are new to the UFI audience:

Xchange Theatre: Wednesday 1st November

15:40-16:00 - How can you track the movement and behaviour of 20,000+ visitors accurately at a single event without WiFi, Apps or RFID? Cemsit Yelgin, CEO & Founder, Waytation (Austria)

16:00-16:20 - Making face-to-face meetings the ultimate customer experience in a digital world. Christopher Blackwell, CSO, Balluun (Switzerland)

16:20-16:40 - Flourish or founder: the impact of online marketplace platforms on the event (MICE) industry. Dinuke Ranasinghe, CEO, Arcadier (Singapore)

16:40-17:00 - How to attract more attendees by promoting your exhibition to a worldwide audience. Olga Amraie, Founder & CEO, ShowMeBiz (Ukraine)

We also have a Special Interest Group (SIG) session on Thursday from 15:00-16:00 with Matthias Tesi Baur (Consulting Partner, MBB Media), Stephan Forseilles (CTO, Artexis Easyfairs) and Gunnar Heinrich (CEO, Adventics).

We are using a new Digital Partner this year – Poken – so watch out for more functionality around the smart capabilities of the event. Thanks to Stephane and his team and we are delighted to welcome them to the Congress.

Thanks also to our Reg. Partner - Info Salons who have supported the UFI Congress (and all our events) for many years. There is not much that Jo-Anne Kelleway does not know about EventTech, so my advice to all our new partners and sponsors is the same: “Have you met Jo-Anne yet? I think you should talk to her...”

Thanks also to our Mobile Partner - Goomeo – who will be represented by the irrepressible Aziz.

We are also joined by Feathr, winners of last years UFI Digital Innovation Award, who are taking the exhibition world by storm.  (I was in a breakout session at the recent SISO Leadership Forum in Philadelphia discussing digital products of the future. The moderator of our table of 12 organisers asked if anyone was NOT using Feathr. Only 1 person wasn’t....)

As secretary of the LatAm chapter I am also very happy to welcome Jorge and Ruben from ACOB, the leading tech partner to organisers in Mexico. 

So... a lot going on from the world of #EventTech next week, starting on Wednesday afternoon in the Xchange sessions. But so much talent and expertise from that vital and growing part of the industry are attending, that I'm sure the conversations and meetings will continue long after the sessions have finished. New ideas, new relationships, new possibilities - that's what the UFI Global Congress is all about.

See you in Jozi!