With only a few days left before the end of his mandate as President of UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, Cliff Wallace has highlighted significant issues facing the industry. In a speech planned for the UFI General Assembly, Wallace will call upon the exhibition industry to find innovative responses to a number of serious challenges. Looking at the current financial crisis, he said “no industry or service provider can hope to escape completely unscathed. It must be patently clear to even the most optimistic among us that the critical issues of today's global economy are in fact issues of survival.” However, Wallace admonishes the industry saying “there are many issues which should have concerned us even when times were good.” 

Wallace identified three major challenges facing the industry today.  First, the pressure of rising airfares and environmental concerns which impact business and personal travel patterns has obvious implications for the world of exhibitions. A second issue relates to global and local security. Wallace acknowledges that while spiralling costs associated with securing venues and protecting clients is an issue, the real problem facing the industry is that the world is becoming increasingly risk averse and fearful. The final challenge Wallace identified is that presented by the impact of electronic communications. At any given moment there are many millions of people around the globe who are sharing information through electronic communication.  Contrary to earlier notions, this rich flow of information is not drowning people in “information overload”. This instant communication capability, and the increasing technological facility that goes with it, is in fact the greatest challenge to any industry that depends on “live” attendance. 

Wallace is convinced that today’s exhibition industry is facing a world of paradox.  He sees that we have more freedom but tighter security; more choice but sharply contracting discretionary dollars; more global knowledge but less knowledge of our neighbours. Wallace summarized the current exhibition environment saying, “In a world of rapidly changing ideas, applications and technologies the exhibition industry is in danger of greying out and failing to convince the young. We can't think alone – we need to think along with each other and with leaders from the industries and sectors we serve.”

Meeting in Istanbul from November 12–14, over 350 industry exhibition leaders from 57 nations will examine these challenges during the three day UFI summit. Wallace declared, “as exhibition professionals we have a responsibility to the future of our industry to think ahead, not incrementally any more, but in a spirit of creative disruption. I pledge to work closely with incoming UFI President John Shaw and my colleagues at the upcoming UFI Congress to develop creative and dynamic solutions.”