01/11/2024

ECA Creates Collective to Advocate on Critical Exhibition Issues

It's comprised of six separate entities

The Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) announced today the creation of the Exhibitions Industry Collective to drive awareness on key issues facing the exhibitions ecosystem.

The Exhibitions Industry Collective is comprised of six industry organizations including ECA, Exhibition Services & Contractors Association (ESCA), Experiential Designers & Producers Association (EDPA), International Association of Exhibitions & Events (IAEE), International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) and the Society of Independent Show Organizers. (SISO).

Members of the collective have previously worked together on advocacy and are now expanding their collaborations to address workforce development, sustainability and health and safety as a unified effort. By leveraging the strengths in their respective fields, the Collective will better serve the broader exhibitions and events community by bringing more awareness to key stakeholders and a defined path to success for each member base.

"Partnership and collaboration are part of the DNA of ECA," said ECA Vice President Tommy Goodwin, FASAE, CAE, PMP, CMP. "I look forward to working with our partners in the Exhibitions Industry Collective to support and amplify their work on the issues that are critical to the future of the business events industry, especially attracting and training our next generation workforce."

The collective will launch a new website in the coming weeks that will feature a defined roadmap for the collective’s initiatives and house top-level information on each organization in the collective. Each of the six organizations in the collective will also be featured during IAEE’s virtual Exhibitions Industry Awareness Week Feb. 20-23, 2024. The purpose of Exhibitions Industry Awareness Week is to promote the exhibitions industry as a career path opportunity to students, faculty, those looking for a career change and all members in each industry sector. Registration for Exhibitions Industry Awareness Week will open in late January.

This article was provided to OSAP by ASAE's Power of Associations and Inroads.