THE 68th UFI CONGRESS, October 19-20th, 2001, Cologne

Bruno Meissner, Communication Group President and Jan De Ceuster, Secretary General, attended the 68^th UFI Congress, which, in the very last instance, was rescheduled from Cairo to Cologne. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the USA, the attendance was slightly down to its normal number.

The UFI AGM elected Sandy Angus (Montgomery Exhibitions) as their new President and paid tribute to the outgoing President, Manfred Busche and the outgoing secretary-general, Gerda Marquardt.

The new UFI President honoured the work done by his predecessor and presented his policy:

• The different continents need more attention and should be more heavily involved in the UFI activities
• Strengthen UFI's financial base
• Strengthen UFI's regional chapters and develop regional activities
• Generic promotion of exhibitions as a marketing and communication tool
• Involve more people in UFI's functioning

During the Congress, a high-profile industry leader such as Mike Rusbridge, Reed Exhibition Companies' CEO, give an insight in how REC is capable of mounting some 50 new exhibitions worldwide and remain market driven. Both Norbert Bargmann, former deputy Commissioner General of Expo 2000 and Michael Knight, organiser of the 2000 Sidney Olympics showed the highly fascinating world of mega-events, how small details can make the difference and what the value of integrating local communities can mean to the success of such an event.

On Saturday, a panel of experts discussed the possible effects of the terrorist attacks on the USA on the exhibition industry : the overwhelming sentiment was that business will have to go on as usual, but that everyone involved in our industry should be entirely committed to confidence building of our clients.