Showfloor Buzz – March 4, 2024

EACA News

EACA Board Meets In Nashville The EACA Board met on February 26 at ExhibitorLive and set the agenda for the association for 2024.    EACA members can look forward to the following taking place this year.

  • 2024 Salary Survey
  • Adding CBA renewal info to EACA website
  • Adding Jurisdiction info to EACA website
  • Engaging in campaign against EAC Fees

We encourage all our members to reach out if there are any other issues, challenges or opportunities you want the Board to consider.

EAC Registration Schedule EACA is supporting the following events with our EAC registration services:

The Plastics Show                 May 6-10                 Orlando
EBACE                                    May 28-30               Geneva, Switzerland
BIO Int’l Show                        June 3-6                   San Diego
Summer Fancy Foods           June 23-25               New York

ExhibitorLive Reports 20% Attendance Increase     ExhibitorLive reported a more than 20% bump in total attendance and 40% increase in buyers year over year, according to David DuBois, president and CEO of Exhibitor Group and publisher of EXHIBITOR magazine

Check out the New EACA Job Board.There is a new Job Board on the EACA web site to assist members identify, locate and hire key personnel needed for company growth.   Features of this new Job Board include email alerts to job seekers when new jobs are posted to the site.  Employers can also have their listing prioritized and advertised.

One piece of important advice from our friends and EACA member, Employco USA.   All job listings must begin to include pay ranges for the position posted.

Check out the new Job Board at https://eaca.careerwebsite.com/

New Member Welcome

The EACA would like to welcome the following new members who have joined the EACA this past month.   We encourage all our existing members to reach out to those you know and make them feel welcome.

  • FX Design Group                                         Jossiel Chervony
  • TWI Group                                                    Kerrie DiMangano

EACA Member News

Eagle Management Promotes Roemer.  Eagle Management Group, Inc. (Eagle) proudly annouces the promotion of Scott Roemer to the position of Director of Eastern Operations. With an unwavering commitment to excellence and a highly respected track record as the company’s Philadelphia City Manager, Roemer stands ready to take on this important role.

Exhibit City News Launches ‘Business Beacon’ Series to Support Industry Growth.  Exhibit City News (ECN), the premier media organization dedicated to the trade show and event industry trade, announced today the launch of ‘BUSINESS BEACON’ series.

Pat Alacqua, co-founder of Nth Degree, and Jane Gentry, CEO and executive coach, bring decades of industry and business expertise to the series. “The tradeshow industry is in transformation. This series will provide practical business and professional development resources for all members of the trade community, from owner/operators to staff,” shares Alacqua and Gentry.

Don Svehla, ECN’s Publisher and Founder, adds, “For 30 years we’ve been ‘True to the Trade.’ With Pat and Jane’s expertise, we build on this legacy by equipping our trade community with new skills and tools to succeed in the current landscape and beyond.”

Industry News

UFI Summit Reveals Exhibition Industry Forecast  <TSNN>  At UFI’s Global CEO Summit, held Jan. 31–Feb. 2 in Amsterdam the UFI Global Barometer, a biannual report that was released.  Findings included:

  • Topline takeaway: This year will be the best year ever for our industry, period.  UFI is expecting a global average growth on revenue of 15%.
  • HiringThe exhibition industry creates jobs, and 52% of all industry businesses around the world are expanding their staff base, adding new positions and bringing in additional talent…not just filling positions that we had to refill after the pandemic, but adding new jobs for the industry.
  • AI: UFI started tracking AI for the first time last summer. How many businesses considered relevant then? It was 80+%. Now 90+% of all businesses around the world say generative AI is here to stay. UFI expects it to be adapted in the bloodstream and workflows of industry businesses. More than one-third of businesses all around the world are already using generative AI, especially around marketing and sales, customer relations and research.”
  • Key takeaway for U.S. market:  In the United States, UFI reports that 57% of companies are planning to hire.

ECA Advocacy Update.   The Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) reports that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unanimously finalized its Government and Business Impersonation Rule, which will target scammers who impersonate government and business entities.    This rule will give the FTC much stronger tools to go after those who target the business events industry with hotel reservation scams and attendance list scams. 

The FTC will be able to directly file court cases aimed at forcing scammers to return the money generated from scams that:

  • Use Business Logos
  • Spoof business emails and web addresses
  • Falsely imply business affiliation

Economists Raise Forecast for 2024 <Northstar Meetings Group>  This year looks to be a much better one for the U.S. economy than business economists were forecasting just a few months ago, according to a survey released Monday.

The economy looks set to grow 2.2 percent this year after adjusting for inflation, according to the National Association for Business Economics. That’s up from the 1.3 percent that economists from universities, businesses and investment firms predicted in the association’s prior survey, which was conducted in November.