AEFI at the 34th Annual Congress of IELA
LOGISTICS AND EXHIBITIONS: UPDATE ON ACTIVITIES AND NOMINATION OF THE NEW BOARD OF MANAGEMENT OF IELA, WITH EVER MORE FEMALE MEMBERS
The 34th Annual Congress of IELA-International Exhibition Logistics Association -held at Venice on 23 to 26 June -was an important occasion for reviewing the activities of the Association and discussing its programme for the future.
The themeof the meeting was “The Human Factor”, with a focus on the potential of the human factor as a motor for change and its positive implications for the individual, the team, the company and the industry as a whole.
The three days of discussion included a presentation by AEFI-Associazione Esposizioni e Fiere Italiane, which was invited to participate by virtue of the agreement of collaboration stipulated between the parties in 2016.
AEFI presented the Italian exhibitions industry to the many professional participants from around the world, emphasising the fact that exhibitions are of great importance in Italy because the country’s manufacturing industry is composed of innumerable small and medium size businesses which see trade fairs as their main tool for promotion and marketing. AEFI’s collaboration with IELA has been and is fundamental to supporting the internationalisation of small and medium size exhibitions, which have even more need of high value partners, like IELAassociates, to compete in the global marketplace.
IELA’s work in the area of safety and the enormous contribution of its experts to logistics issues at the meetings of the AEFI Technical Commission has given us many points for reflection on how to improvethe safety of exhibition districts in our country.The 34th Congress also elected three new members of the IELA Board of Management who will remain in place until 2021 and will work alongside the current President and Vice President next year: Vicki Bedi(Director, PS Bedi Group, India) and Guido Fornelli (Managing Director, Expotrans S.p.A., Italy).
In line with the IELA Power UP programme -launched at the start of this year with the objective of expanding female leadership -the new BoM includes three women among its nine members, all professionals in the area of logistics for the exhibitions industry: Mariane Ewbank (Director, Fulstandig Shows and Eventos MC Ltda, Brazil, and previously President of IELAfrom 2016 to 2018) is confirmed, and Priscilla Leong (Global COO & Finance, Agility Fairs & Events and MD, Agility Fairs & Events Logistics, Singapore) and Sandi Trotter, (Business Development Director of TWI Group Inc., Canada) were also nominated.
On conclusion of the Congress, IELA also organised -still in Venice –the IELA Partnering Event, two days of networking and presentations on the activities of the Association for both its new members and potential future associates.
AEFI -Associazione Esposizioni e Fiere Italiane, a private non-profit Association,was established in 1983 with the goal of generating synergies between the most important Italian exhibition districts. AEFI would like to be seen as a privileged partner for operators and institutions alike, and its role is to support members through the development of activities and programmes in the sphere of training, marketing, promotion and research, as well as to provide services for trade fairs thanks to the work of its Committees: Exhibition Hub Technical Committee, Legal-Administrative Committee, Internationalisation Committee and Trade Fairs Network Committee.In the area of internationalisation, AEFI supports its associates with agreements with strategic markets and in Italy with ICE Agenzia, SACE and SIMEST.AEFI has promoted the foundation of ISFCert, the Certification Institute for Exhibition Industry Statistics which, through rigorous methodologies, enables Italian organisers to present and recognise standardised data, in the name of transparency and reliability. AEFI represents Italian exhibitions in UFI -Union of International Fairs -and includes 36 member exhibition districts, which organise over 1,000 events a year over an overall exhibition area of 4.2 million square metres.Nearly all international and national trade fairs which take place each year in Italy are held in AEFI-member exhibition districts.www.aefi.it
IELA -International Exhibition Logistics Association, the international association of trade fair sector logistics professionals.The IELA’s strict entry requirements ensure the utmost service quality level. Its members, who operate according to the association’s code of ethics, are recognised as leaders in the sector and specialist professionals both nationally and internationally. Thanks to partnerships with the sector’s main organisations, the IELA guarantees organisers and exhibition districts access to an international network of contacts specialising also in customs procedures.Established in 1985, IELA currently has 175 associates and 31 affiliates from 56 countries.www.ierla.org