Raghav Khosla’s Post

Transcript

Center of gravity of World Trade has moved east and will continue to move east. We've seen pre pandemic a lot of innovation in Asia Pacific. We will continue to see this innovation in Asia Pacific and we will see new markets growing across Asia Pacific, but also here in the GCC region and elsewhere in the world. A leader is not the one who knows the way, A true leader is the one who shows others the way as well. Mr. Kai Hattendorf, the CEO and MD of UFI, the global association of Exhibition industry. And in this spotlight episode, I'm going to understand a little bit about his journey, his glamorous, glorious 10 year journey with UFI. Thank you, Kai for giving us time. Really a pleasure to have you. So first of all, I want to say. Have been blessed with an amazing team at UFI and every association can only be as good as its members allow it to be. And if he's blessed with the global community of exhibition industry, businesses and leaders. Dosens of home App Volunteers. Through the last 10 years and actually stood over the last 100 years because you've is turning 100. So being at the helm of the organization for 10 years has been a stewardship and a lot of the thanks belongs to the whole structure and the team now. You ask what were one of the first things we did and I think when I came into UFI in late 2015, one of the first things we did was to meet at. You if you headquarter a few weeks after our Global Congress to get started on what became Global Exhibitions Day. OK, initially in 2016 because there have been so much push from various markets to come together globally as an industry, but it had never really taken off. So we took the challenge. We launched the 1st edition of Global Exhibition Stay on the first Wednesday in June, June 5, 2016 and celebrated his 10th year anniversary in 2025. And it really helped us to build that collaboration muscle. Between the association servicing the exhibition of business events industry within new fee and outside of UFI and then empowered us later on when we were in deep trouble as an industry during the pandemic to build on these experiences, to build on these collaborations to support the sector. And of course, apart from the Global Exhibitions Day, there have been several other aspects to your leadership as well. Your to your tenure. Education is one of them. Sustainability in that aspect also, a lot of things have happened. Take us through the little bit about those aspects Let's start with sustainability it's is and this is in many ways a post pandemic story already because in 2022 one of our members called the Scottish events campus because there were hosting COP 26, the global climate conference in that year and they. Try to figure out what is our industry's positioning as the events industry or what is our response to the climate challenge. And I said, I don't know, but that's fine out and that then the famous serendipity thing happened. I was living in Bonn and bonus, the seed of the UNF Triple C, which is the United Nations unit that deals with the climate change in the Paris climate protocol. So I happened to get to know the colleague who was running the programs for the COP for the climate conference. And we went for long walks in the park and bond because he couldn't sit inside. It was still the pandemic regulations and we plotted. Worse becoming later on with ICA, PC and many others what was becoming net 0 carbon events and we took it to cop. In Glasgow we took it to Sharmel Sheikh COP 27 one year later and we initially managed the project office for net 0 carbon events for a year with the new fee. Because we are committed to volunteer work on that and then we pass it on to the joint meetings Industry Council. Of course, it's bigger than exhibitions. Obviously it is the biggest challenge we have as the whole events industry. And I'm very happy to see that project and that initiative thrive and grow under the leadership of Jamaica these days. Absolutely. And about the education front also, because now as I understand next four years, we are going to have around 70% of the new workforce, new faces around us. And if we under your leadership during your. Patient has done a lot of work in the education front. Tell us a little bit about that. We set out to rethink how we do education servicing the needs of the global. If your membership and the initial outcome was. That everybody pushed us to offer an accreditation scheme, so we launched the UFI certified professional, the UCP program. The mid career professionals said we need a specialized program for exhibition management, for venue management. So we launched the exhibition management school, the venue management school. And now to reflect to the 70% new talent coming into the industry, it's amazing that we're just not. We hired the numbers of staff we had before the pandemic, 52% of all businesses, according to our latest barometer are actively. Expanding their workforce in the next six months. And we are doing this conversation here in the GCC region. This has the highest share of new colleagues coming to the sector. So we've launched a new UFI exhibition essential program here with our member Taleff. And we are rolling that out for colleagues in the region and globally as an entry level crash course to make sure people coming into our industry have what they need to embed themselves into this beautiful industry. Right from on Week 1 when they join it, you've worked with several presidents, several industry leaders who have in their own way, been so successful. How's the experience been handling so many different different leaders? I had a very different career coach every year because each and every one of the presidents of RUFI, there's a new president every year. Has a very different leadership style they've they've been from all over the world. I was the colleague who hired me undress Lopez Villarama was from Corferias. There was a German I kind of knew what the Germans are like a little bit being in German. We had and move our town for first person from India. We had Mary Larkin first Irish born in North American president first woman Monica Lee Miller from Hong Kong correct Newman from South Africa currently Jeff Dickinson here from Dubai and Hugh Jones will see me off if you wish. A few weeks after he takes the helm, then each one of these leaders have brought their style, their expectations, but also their passion to this role and it's simply been one of the most rewarding things working with the different industry leader every year. For the betterment of the industry guy, now we are headed to Germany for the OFI Global Congress. Yes, we probably have the biggest Congress in a decade with colleagues signing up. The theme has changes to chances. We have post this post pandemic recovery. We are on a high as an industry. We've never made this many we've we've had never had this revenue level and we are still extremely profitable as an industry. But there are changes, there are geopolitical challenges, social changes there. Karmic challenges and we need answers for that as an industry and these will all foster change and drive change and to we will work with a lot of the sessions and Cologne to identify the opportunities that lie in these changes. At the same time we need to acknowledge what is changing and leave this. Sunny mood we've had for the last 1 1/2 or two years. The future is more complex, it is more difficult, but we will be ready to face it and we'll try to get that across with the sessions in Cologne. And then of course, there's all the networking or the global community coming together. Plus it's the local spirit of the people in Cologne, which is one of the most welcoming cities really in the world. Will we continue to see Kai in the industry post January? We want to stay in this industry. I have plans, I have ideas, I have some talks. But I may also want to take a few weeks off. And for sure, I love that. I love this industry. I, I love working with, with, with so many people, including you. And thank you for the very good partnership. And I guess I'll be around and continue to be the tall guy in the corner that I've been in the last years. That's amazing news for all of us. And Kai, any message, any remarks you would like to give to the industry at large and to our audiences? Yeah, Asia Pacific and global India. Your time has come. Your journey will be different from any other major market. You're gonna write your own growth story. And as you mature and grow, it'll be a fascinating journey to watch and be part of. For how many next? How many years you feel it's going to be in there? So you and I retire at least. OK. Wow. And we're going to stick around for a bit. Asia Pacific. The economic center of gravity of World Trade has moved east and will continue to move east. We've seen prepandemic a lot of innovation in Asia Pacific. We will continue to see this innovation in Asia Pacific and we will see new markets growing across Asia Pacific, but also here in the GCC region and elsewhere in the world and globally. This industry has always surfed marketplaces and has always built the marketplaces needed for the societies and economies it was serving. So we will be there. However, the world changes and we will be there to bring people together. For trade and for the exchange of ideas, and our core function will always be to be this factor that allows people to meet face to face. In an ever more digital environment, this will be ever more important. In an ever more difficult political environment, this will be ever more important. In an ever more complex economic development, this will be ever more important. Our industry will probably never been as important. Then it will be in the next 10 years. Amazing guy. I believe in the era of artificial intelligence even still are going to get even more relevant in the coming years. Well, Kai, it's been really insightful and fascinating talking to you. As always for our readers, it isn't the end of the journey. We are going to see Kai and we are going to come up with a special story and a special section dedicated to kayak journey in our next next magazine issue. So stay tuned to Exhibition Showcase for more updates from the world of exhibitions. Thank you, guy, Thank you.