8th IEIA Open Seminar, held from May 9 to 11, 2018 at Hitex, Hyderabad, was held successfully with global leaders of exhibition industry present at this event. Bringing together the Indian and global exhibition industry fraternity, the 8th edition facilitated the best of business networking amongst participants from 30 countries while being one of its kind platform for knowledge exchange transacted at the event. Being supported by various global forums of the exhibition industry including UFI, IAEE, AFECA, SISO, AEFI, UBRAFE, AUMA, CENTREX and IELA, representatives from 33 international associations participated in the IEIA Open Seminar 2018. Being an unprecedented biggest event of the MICE Industry in India with the presence of who’s who of the industry, the 8th edition of the IEIA Open Seminar opened up avenues of closer connection and business for the Indian Exhibition industry players with their global counterparts.
Mr.CorradoPeraboni, President- UFI, Mr. David DuBois, CEO & President- IAEE, Mr. Walter Yeh, President- 
AFECA, Mr. L.C. Goyal, IAS, CMD, ITPO and Mr. B. Venkatesham, IAS, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Govt of Telangana were amongst the key dignitaries present on the dais with Mr. KV Nagendra Prasad, President- IEIA, Mr.RavinderSethi, Vice President- IEIA and Mr.Bhupinder Singh, Honorary Secretary- IEIA, who inaugurated the event with lamp lighting ceremony. One of the most awaited initiatives for the Exhibition sector in India- ‘The Indian Exhibition Industry Report 2017’, initiated by IEIA with EAC as knowledge partner was unveiled by the present dignitaries during the inaugural session, while Sh. Suresh Prabhu, Honourable Minister of Commerce & Industries addressed the participants and global leaders through a video message.
IEIA conferred Lifetime Achievement Award on Mr.Tarun Das, Founder Ananta Aspen Centre and Former Chief Mentor CII, for his outstanding contribution to the exhibition industry in India. Most informative panel discussions and presentations by more than 45 eminent speakers, who shared their experience and expertise with the attendees, were highly applauded by the audiences. Some key topics covered during the 2 day’s sessions were a talk by Ms.SujaChandy, Vice President, India Invest on ‘India Means Business- Opportunity Beckons’; ‘Global Exhibition Industry Trends’ by Mr.CorradoPeraboni, President, UFI; ‘Leadership in Turbulent Times’ by Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain; ‘5 things that India must do to be a leading exhibition destination’ by Mr. David DuBois, CEO & President, IAEE; ‘Sales Revolution’ by Mr. Antonio Brito, Member of Board, IAEE; ‘Understanding the Indian Millennials and engaging them’ by Mr.Naresh Prasad, CEO, Perceptive Learning Consultants’ along with a line up of some really wonderful panel discussions and presentations by International Associations about Exhibition Industry update from Italy, Central East Europe and Germany. The graduates of 4th batch of Certified in Exhibitions Management (CEM) India, were also felicitated during the Graduation ceremony held as part of the IEIA Open Seminar on May 10, 2018, by Mr. David DuBois, CEO & President-IAEE, Mr. Emmanuel Lamadrid, President- IAEE Mexico Chapter, Mr. Antonio Brito, Board Member, IAEE andMr. KV Nagendra Prasad, President- IAEE India Chapter.
Two important features of the IEIA Open Seminar this year were the IAEE’s Young Professionals Meet Up and Business Match Making Session hosted by IEIA. Young professionals from the industry and Students from National Institute of Tourism & Hospitality Mgmt. and Rachnoutsav Events Academy, Hyderabad participated in this Meet up and interacted with representatives and Board Members of IAEE- Mr. David DuBois, Mr. Antonio Brito, Mr. Emmanuel Lamadrid, Mr. H.S. Bedi and Mr. KV Nagendra Prasad, who shared their experiences with the students about their journey in the exhibition industry and how can exhibitions be a great career option for them. The pre fixed B2B Business Match making meetings was yet another milestone achievement of the IEIA Open Seminar 2018 with over 50 pre fixed business meetings held during the session.
Mr. KV Nagendra Prasad, President, IEIA stated ‘’The very objective behind making this truly global event was to showcase the potential of the Indian Exhibition Industry to the global leaders of this sector and also to provide a platform to discuss avenues & opportunities of collaborative business to the participating delegates. We are extremely happy to see the overwhelming response of the exhibition industry players from various countries in partnering with our member organisations in India’’.
The second day of the event opened with a power packed session by Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Honourable Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha who spoke on the Future of India in Emerging Economies and enlightened the audiences with his rich experience and insights. Acclaiming further success, IEIA signed 8 international Reciprocity Agreements with exhibition industry associations from various countries including CENTREX (Central East Europe), AFE (Spain), KEOA (Korea), IELA (Switzerland), RUEF (Russia), SAACI & AAXO (South Africa) and SBE (Poland). Mr.CorradoPeraboni, President, UFI while sharing his experience about the IEIA Open Seminar, stated- ‘This is my first time in India and at the IEIA Open Seminar, and I am happy to be part of this event. Indian Exhibition Market is rapidly increasing and performing better than the average performance of the region. With new investment plans of the govt in the infrastructure development, there is scope of further huge prospects for India to be able to cover the increasing demands in terms of square meters. UFI has been cooperating with IEIA for a long time and we will continue this in future for promoting our industry. IEIA is an example for various international associations as this association brings together the entire chain of exhibition industry under one platform, including – Venues, Organisers and Service Partners and serves as a platform for information and knowledge exchange for the entire exhibitions market.’Mr. David DuBois, CEO & President, IAEE said, ‘’ I have been attending IEIA Open Seminar for many years, and I am happy to state that IEIA has progressed very positively and aggressively. I am pleased with the initiatives of IEIA to contribute to economic development and progress of exhibition industry. We have recently opened the IAEE India Chapter for closer cooperation with IEIA. Indian Exhibition Industry is thriving and poised for greater success in future.’’
Mr. Walter Yeh, President, A
FECA expressed his appreciation about the IEIA Open Seminar by stating, “I am pleased to be a part of IEIA Open Seminar, which is perfectly organised. I am also happy to know more about the Indian Exhibition Industry at this event. Indian Exhibition industry is booming and it is the right opportunity for all to organise trade fairs in India. Lot of new concepts and information has been shared during the sessions of this Seminar. We have also conducted the Board meeting of AFECA during this event and had a great experience being part of the IEIA open Seminar.’’ 5 International Board Meetings organised concurrent to the event, brought in greater synergies through the interactions that took place during these meetings, including- BRICS MICE FORUM Meeting, IEIA’s Partner Associations Meeting (attended by representatives of 16 international associations), AFECA Board Meeting, IAEE India Chapter Meeting and IEIA Executive Committee Meeting. The event ended with valedictory session and formal vote of thanks by Mr. Max Fernandes, EC Member- IEIA. 9th edition of IEIA Open Seminar will be held at PragatiMaidan (ITPO), New Delhi.
