Earlier this month, PPAI Executive Vice President Bob McLean traveled to Frankfurt, Germany, for an International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) board meeting. The IAEE is an organization representing the interests of trade show and exposition managers. McLean has been on the association’s board of directors since 2015 and is serving his second term.

“Working with the IAEE Board allows me to interact not only with trade show executives, but also with other association executives,” says McLean. “Being able to learn what other associations and trade shows are doing to keep up with trends has been invaluable.”

While in Germany, McLean also attended the IMEX show, serving the incentive travel, meeting and events industries, held at the Messe Frankfurt exhibition center. At the show, he partnered with Cathy Breden, IAEE executive vice president and chief operating officer and president of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, on a presentation of insights, innovations and inspiration for growing event attendance.

McLean adds, “The IMEX show was fantastic. It’s held in the third-largest event facility in the world, and it puts to good use some of the best practices in the trade show industry. I took away several insights that may benefit The PPAI Expo.”