December 13, 2019
Venue: Russia, St. Petersburg, The EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre
Organizer: RUEF
On December 13, 2019, in St. Petersburg, the EXPOFORUM Exhibition and Convention Center hosted a report-back election meeting of members of the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs. This year the event was accompanied not only by educational sessions devoted to industry trends and problems, but also by active networking aimed at developing the strategic goals of the Union and communication between the members of the RUEF. Non-members of the RUEF were invited to open sessions. The whole event was called MICE Networking Forum.
Traditionally, the report-and-election meeting defines the vector of the Union’s development for the next three years, while leaving a foundation for long-term projects. Significant was the election of a new president. During the voting of the RUEF members, CEO of ExpoForum International, Sergey Voronkov, was unanimously elected.
Sergey Alexeev, who headed the Union for 28 years, was elected to the post of First Vice-President of RUEF.
The Presidium has also undergone changes. In addition to the current members of the Presidium, Andrei Ambartsumyan (executive director of the SRO Union of Exhibition Contractors) in the area of "material and technical base of exhibition and congress activity", Sergey Shogurov (general director of VDNH) in the direction of "development of cooperation with the CIS countries" and Nikolai Gusev (First Deputy Director General of Expocentre AO) in the area of "regulatory framework issues". Andrey Zhukovsky (General Director of Russcom IT Systems) took the post of vice president of RUEF.
There have also been changes in the composition of the Committees. The Committee for Marketing and Research was merged with the Committee for Industry Interaction and Coordination, which will intensify work with industry associations in anticipation of the second Forum of Associations, as well as streamline the collection of statistical data, conducting surveys and studies.
During the General Meeting, the Chairpersons of the Committees presented a work plan for next year. In particular, it was decided to send for discussion to the members of RUEF the draft law on exhibition and congress activities presented by the director of the Department of Exhibition, Fair and Congress Activities of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry Selivanov S.V. and, at the request of the Legal Committee of the RUEF, to collect proposals on exhibition standards (within Committee No. 163 of exhibition, fair and congress activities).
The RUEF Training and Methodological Committee set a course for the creation of an international center for assessment and advanced training. The Committee will also continue to conduct examinations and approvals of the training programs that were submitted to the Committee, and to develop co-branding programs.
During the vote, amendments to the current RUEF Charter were adopted. The changes concerned the new development strategy of the Union, in particular, the list of measures included in the interests of the RUEF was expanded. It was also decided to create a single platform combining marketing, analytical, informational, staffing and media opportunities for the industry of exhibitions, fairs, meetings, intensives, congresses and events.
Taking into account the recommendations of the Membership Committee and the Presidium of the RUEF, the Union included 6 new organizations: Klioexpo LLC, Global Shoes LLC, KVK "Imperia Forum" LLC, JSC Publishing House "Beautiful houses press", ANO "MIEF" (ANO " Directorate of Moscow international education fair"), BusinessMediaRussia LLC.
During the meeting, the RUEF Sign was awarded to three exhibition events: JUNWEX Moscow (RusJewellerExpert LLC, St. Petersburg), MedTravelExpo (EXPOCENTRE AO, Moscow) and Russian Elevator Week (JSC "VDNH", Moscow).
The results of activities for 2019 were summed up by Elena Ublieva, RUEF Executive Director. During the year, many new projects were implemented, including the iconic First Forum of Associations, 20 partnership agreements with international and national associations were concluded and expanded, a new official site of the Union was launched, new educational programs and IT products were developed.
Elena Ublieva also presented plans for 2020, which include digital technologies, international cooperation, interaction with authorities, work with associations and promotion of the union and its members in the domestic and international markets, work on the regulatory framework of the industry, standardization, collection of statistics, the formation of a knowledge base, the creation of educational projects and much more.
Сontent in Russian: