Industry News
Curated headlines from the trade show and exhibition industry's top publications, associations, and expert blogs. Stay current with exhibitor announcements, show openings, industry trends, and market news from across the events world. Whether you follow technology, healthcare, food, or manufacturing events, our news feed surfaces the stories that matter to trade show professionals, exhibitors, and event marketers.
UFI Next Generation Leadership Grant 2019 Presentation
Speakers Cinzia Zanin Carolin von Tippelskirch Fuad Musafir Katie Thompson Laura Docampo The post UFI Next Generation Leadership Grant 2019 Presentation appeared first on UFI.
Letter from the UFI President: September 2026
Dear UFI Members & Friends, This latest edition of my newsletter brings us to the end of summer — or perhaps I should say, the end of the summer holidays. For those of you who have children — even if yours are all grown up now — you may well remember this feeling. After 2.5 […] The post Letter from…
Is Exhibition Success Still About Size?
Article from our Diamond Sponsor, TCEB Is it the size of the show? The number of visitors? The square metres sold? Or perhaps, increasingly, it is what happens because the show took place in the first place. As the exhibition industry evolves, there are some shifts worth considering. Scale is still…
Worth Every Euro? Rebuilding the Exhibitor Value Proposition
Outcome of an Insight Series workshop, UFI European Conference 2026 Exhibitors are under pressure to justify every line of their marketing budget, and exhibition participation is no longer a given. The cost of showing up is rising, the outcomes they expect are shifting, and the alternatives…
Inclusion Vision 2030
Outcome of an Insight Series workshop, UFI European Conference 2026 This session reviewed outcomes from the 2025 UFI Insight Series, where we began our journey of exploring opportunities for increasing value for our customers through inclusive and accessible experiences at our events. We’ll propose…
Built For Who Exactly? Rethinking Visitor Experience As a Commercial Asset
Outcome of an Insight Series workshop, UFI European Conference 2026 Visitors are harder to attract, quicker to disengage, and more demanding than ever. Registrations no longer guarantee attendance, and attendance no longer guarantees satisfaction. In this interactive workshop, we challenged…
Future-Proof or Fading Out? Reimagining the Exhibition Model
Outcome of an Insight Series workshop, UFI European Conference 2026 The traditional exhibition model is under pressure. Attendees expect more, younger generations engage differently, and the industry’s environmental footprint is increasingly hard to ignore. In this interactive workshop, we…
Collective Wisdom – Learning From Thursday’s Insight Series Workshops
At the UFI European Conference 2026 in Izmir, delegates came together across four Insight Series workshops tackling some of the most pressing challenges facing the exhibitions industry: visitor experience, exhibitor value, the future of the exhibition model, and inclusive and accessible events.…
Letter from the UFI President: July 2026
Dear UFI Members and Friends, I am writing to you from Bilbao, where I am attending the AIPC Annual Conference. Gatherings like this are always a valuable reminder of how important it is for us, as an industry, to stay connected with our community, not only to strengthen relationships, but also to…
The Association Advantage: Why Thailand Is Putting Industry Communities at the Heart of Exhibition Growth
Article from our Diamond Sponsor, TCEB Trade associations do not just represent industries, they help move them forward. When associations mobilise their members, they shape how markets connect, trade, and grow, making them one of the most important yet often underestimated drivers of exhibition…
UFI People & Culture Working Group Update: New Members, New Conversations
Written by Cinzia Zanin, Responsible of Accademia Fiera Milano, Chair of the UFI People & Culture Working Group. The thing I love the most about this group is the deepness of our conversations. In this last year we have grown significantly, thanks to the commitment of old members and the energy…
Learnings From the UFI Event Directors Summit 2023
UFI’s new launch event, the Event Directors Summit, takes place immediately before the European Conference at the MECC in Maastricht. It is a curated 1-day programme exclusively for 50 event directors, exhibition directors, portfolio directors, vice presidents, etc. Whatever you call them, these…
Future Proofing Our Events
The Event Directors Summit took place the day before the Conference, an intensive & interactive one-day programme for 50 exhibition directors from leading European show brands, led by visionary thinker and strategist – MCI’s Global President Oscar Cerezales. On the mainstage, Oscar presented the…
Letter from the UFI President: June 2026
Dear UFI Members & Friends, I am writing to you this month not from a desk, but from a city that has brought me back to something I had almost forgotten — the feeling of arriving somewhere and realising that this industry, our industry, has a way of pulling people together across time as much […]…
What Thailand’s Record Growth Reveals About the Next Phase of the Exhibition Industry
Article from our Diamond Sponsor, TCEB The exhibition industry is no longer competing on scale alone. According to UFI’s latest industry outlook, organisers worldwide are increasingly focused on experience-led formats, AI integration, stronger engagement, and long-term ecosystem value. Human…
From AI Hype to Exhibition Value: Automation, Augmentation, Reconfiguration
Written by Enrico Gallorini, Co-Founder & CEO of GRS Research & Strategy, and Vice-Chair of the UFI Digital Innovation Working Group. AI won’t destroy live, in-person experiences … but bad AI will. Across exhibitions, AI has become the easiest word to put in a strategy deck, and the hardest to…
Letter from the UFI President: May 2026
Dear UFI Members & Friends, As I write this month’s message, I am reminded once again of what makes our community so remarkable : even in uncertain times, we continue to show up, support one another & move forward together. The world around us continues to test our resilience. Many of the…
Diversity brings creativity. Creativity builds culture
Article from our Diamond Sponsor, TCEB Diversity brings creativity. Creativity builds culture. And culture is supported by technology and drives revenue. Nowhere is this more visible than in the exhibition industry, where ideas, identities, and industries converge under one roof. Thailand offers a…
Are We Prepared for Human-Machine Collaboration?
Written by Marcello Ronchietto, Head of Data & Analytics at Palexpo Geneva, and Member of the UFI Digital Innovation Working Group. At the UFI Digital Innovation Working Group meeting in Düsseldorf this February 2026, participants explored a timely question during a dedicated workshop: how should…
Letter from the UFI President: April 2026
Dear UFI Members and Friends, As we move further into 2026, the pace of our industry is once again picking up. Calendars are filling, travel schedules are becoming more ambitious and the familiar rhythm of exhibitions is well and truly back — along with the familiar challenge of keeping up with our…