As from July 1st, 2001, Vincent Gerard will be UFI's new Managing Director. Mr. Gerard is the acting president of Febelux, the Belgian federation of exhibition organisers.
Joan Turner, BECA's director, will take early retirement after 18 years of service to the association. She will for the time being continue to lead BECA until a successor is found

Expobel
On january 26th Expobel organised its first New Year's drink, in the presence of the IFES President and Vice-President. Guest speaker Luc Lammens (Janssens Pharmaceutica)  presented excerpts of his success work 'Business Plan' to an interested attendance of 30 people. All participants received a free copy of the book.
Expobel is planning a repeat of its successful seminar, jointly organised with Febelux, the Belgian fair organisers association.
The Expobel AGM is planned on June 19, 2001.

IM AUSTRIA
IM Austria celebrated its 10th anniversary in December 2000, redefining its identity, which will be revealed by the end of February.
IM Austria will host 2 events : the Spring event will be on Education, the Autumn one on Event Marketing.
IM Austria will also be present at the publica, from March 28 to March 30, 2001, in Vienna.

Messeteam
Messeteam will hold a member meeting on February 28 and its AGM on April 28, 2001.

CSME
The French CSME will hold its AGM at La Plagne on March 1st, 2001. The AGM will be followed by a sleigh descent!

FAMAB
FAMAB is proud to announce the birth of Adam, the award for exhibition presentation excellence. Participation is open to architects, designer, stand constructors and the whole exhibition industry. FAMAB's objective is double : focus attention to successful exhibition participation as a central element in integrated business communication and, improve the quality mindedness of all participants in the exhibition industry. The award will also show the importance of using communication design specialists to achieve success in exhibitions.
The evaluation criteria will not only be limited to the translation of the concept into form, but will include the integration of the exhibition presence in the marketing concept.
For more information about participation, rules  etc., please e-mail to martina.zurmuehlen@famab.de.
The Award ceremony will take place in Berlin on November 21st, 2001.
FAMAB will be present on different German trade shows :

World of Events, March 1 and 2, 2001, Wiesbaden

Prolight+Sound, March 7-12, 2001, Frankfurt (FAMAB is hosted by the VPLT, the sister association for light and sound technique)

Marketing Services, May 2-4, 2001, Frankfurt (FAMAB will present AdaM).

Showtech, May 10-13, 2001, Berlin (FAMAB is hosted by the DTHG, the German Society for Theatre Technique)

IFES
IFES will once again be present on Euroshop 2002, scheduled from February 23-27, 2002 in Düsseldorf. All IFES member companies are welcome to participate in the design of the IFES stand. If you want a copy of the briefing, please mail the IFES secretariat : jan.deceuster@ifesnet.org

Deadline for the project submission : April 27th, 2001