‘Convergence at Exhibition’

Korea Exhibition Forum and Korea Exhibition Expo take place simultaneously

The 6th Korea Exhibition Forum coincided with the Korea Exhibition Expo at COEX in southern Seoul on Dec. 17-18 with participants discussing the direction of developing the exhibition industry and ways of facilitating environmentally friendly raw materials in the industry.
The Korea Exhibition forum, held under the theme “Convergence,” offered differentiated contents and the largest network of the exhibition industry about creating synergetic effects for the success of the industry. It suggested a model of developing the exhibition industry in the future by exploring ways of development through convergence.
In particular, British futurologist Rohit Talwar, who was listed among the global top 10 futurologists by the Independent newspaper, gave a lecture, titled “The Future of Exhibitions and Conferences,” in which he noted the need for developing themes tailored to meet the diverse needs of exhibition participants. He also stressed the importance of continuously developing business models combining exhibition and culture and integrating IT into the exhibition industry for the purpose of evolving the global exhibition industry.
The keynote speaker of Session I was Tad Ishizumi, president of Reed Exhibitions Japan and concurrently chairman of the Japan Exhibition Association, who spoke on the theme “The secret of how we have made every exhibition a success and achieved 14 consecutive years of growth.”
Trevor Foley, CEO of tfconnect of the United Kingdom and former CEO of the Association of Event Organizers, delivered a lecture on the theme “Convergence Case Study Heaven!” at Session II.
The speaker for Session III was Michael von Zitzewitz, chairman of the Board of Management/Messe Frankfurt Gmbh and former president of the European Major Exhibition Centers Association (EMECA), who spoke about “Convergence as a Key for Future Growth.” Patrapee Chinachoti, president of Bangkok Exhibition Services and president of the Thai Exhibition Association, spoke about “Convergence of Exhibition/Tourism” at Session IV. Stefan Decker, CEO of P.O.S. Creative Media Gmbh & Co. in Germany, lectured on the theme “From Inspiration to Staging” at Session V.
Among the roughly 250 participants were Chung Man-ki, director general for trade at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and 190 exhibition industry officials from Korea and 60 from abroad.
The Korea Exhibition Expo dealt with the topic “Environmentally-friendly Green Exhibition,” designed to minimize damages to the environment caused by exhibitions. The side events of the fair included an exhibition marketing strategy seminar, a specialized seminar on exhibitors’ success stories and exhibition exchanges among such exhibition institutions as the Japan Exhibition Association, the Chinese Exhibition Association and TATRA.
Shin In-ho, a division chief of the Korea Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association, and Cho Chun-shik, a team leader of the Gangnam Ward Office, were presented with prizes in recognition of their contribution to the development of the local exhibition industry. Edwar Liu, chairman of the Singaporean Exhibition Association, was honored for his contribution to cementing international cooperation. nw

The 6th Korea Exhibition Forum, which coincided with the Korea Exhibition Expo in Seoul on Dec. 17-18, attracted many experts from Korea and abroad.

The map of the existing exhibitions and convention centers in operation across the nation.

Photo by courtesy of the AKEI