PARIS — UFI, the global trade show industry association, has revised its auditing rules for events to reflect the new reality: virtual and hybrid events are here to stay. The effort was led by BPA Worldwide President and CEO Glenn Hansen, and the recommendations were made by a task force of global auditors.
“The UFI Approved Events certification is a globally recognized recognition for quality trade shows and exhibitions, based on the fact that all of these shows are independently audited,” said Kai Hattendorf, Managing Director and CEO of UFI. “With this effort and our support as a founding association of VSef as the new open source data standard for hybrid and digital trade shows and events, we are contributing as a global trade association for the trade show industry to seize the opportunities that these digital extensions bring to our event portfolio.”
Some of the changes to the audit rules have included adding clarifications on digital and hybrid meetings to the existing document, while others have outlined new quality control measures to be taken. For example, for a digital event, auditors must now virtually visit and verify that listed companies represented by the organizer as exhibitors are present digitally at the event.
While the size of the digital space occupied by an exhibitor is not a mandatory metric, the number of exhibiting companies and their affiliation to a country or region are important criteria. For a fully digital event, the country from which the most visitors come is considered domestic; all exhibitors from other countries are considered international. The new rules determine how to define the host country of a hybrid event, i.e. the country where the physical aspect of the event takes place.
They also specify how visitors can be counted: only during official opening hours, when interactions with exhibitors can take place. “Visits” to a digital event, on the other hand, count at any time during the day when a person enters using a unique identifier. Where an event offers the option of both live and virtual attendance, separate counts must be provided for each event, as well as for attendees who participate in both.
For more information on the new rules, contact UFI at info@ufi.org. Contact Kai Hattendorf at +40 171 5441198 or kh@ufi.org.
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