easyFairs Founder joins UFI’s Presidential Trio
At its 76th Congress in Zagreb this October the General Assembly of UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibitions Industry, welcomed easyFairs President and Founder Eric Everard as the newcomer to its UFI Presidential trio.
The UFI Presidential term of one year builds on a three-year UFI Presidential cycle: one year as Incoming-President, one year as Incumbent President, and one year as Immediate Past-President. For the 2009/2010 session, Manfred Wutzlhofer (Messe München, Germany), succeeds John Shaw as UFI President. John Shaw (Comexposium, France) will continue to provide support as UFI’s Immediate Past President.
Eric Everard (easyFairs Group and Artexis, Belgium) joins as UFI Incoming President. His position will automatically evolve at the 77th UFI Congress in Singapore, when he will assume his mandate as UFI President.
In making the announcement on 29 October 2009 UFI reported that easyFairs, the leading organiser of time & cost-effective trade shows, has defied the recession and held its biggest packaging event to date in Belgium. 320 exhibitors met just under 4,000 visitors on 7 & 8 October at Brussels Expo.
Everard served on the 18-member UFI “think tank” at the Zagreb conference, which grappled with current challenges to the industry. He commented, “This is a time to reduce levels of risk and exposure. But it’s also a time to seek new business opportunities through joint ventures and new cooperative relationships.”