About the company

“Today, we are witnessing a great sacrament at the Church of the Smolensk Mother of God Icon dedication service in Pulkovo,” explains Galina Romashova, Manager of the Charity Fund dedicated to Christian monument restoration. “It is a high-profile event for Saint Petersburg. The most important thing is not just building the church itself, but attracting churchgoers. We can see that city residents need this church; that is the highest reward for us”.

Initially, the church was founded in 1783 on the order of Catherine the Great with government funds allocated by the Empress. The Church of the Smolensk Mother of God Icon was officially dedicated in 1785.

The church was closed in 1938. The church and chapel buildings were destroyed down to their foundations during the Second World War.

A wooden eight-pointed memorial cross was erected in summer 2009 on the church foundations. On August 10, 2011, the first service was held at the church site.

On September 14, 2011, the first stone was laid on the church foundations based on the previous ones. Markell (Vetrov), bishop of Peterhof, assisted by archpriests Victor Moskovsky and Gennady Zverev and priest Daniil Vasilevsky laid its foundation.

Crosses were erected and consecrated on July 4, 2014.

Fragments of the foundations of the Church of the Smolensk Mother of God Icon were found at the ExpoForum construction design stage. The rare design church with two bell towers built in the 18th century by Giacomo Quarenghi and lost during the war years has been restored according to the preserved drawings and images of the architect.

The construction project has been developed by architectural office “Liteynaya Chast-91”. The construction contractor was SMU-837 LLC.

The Charity Christian Monument Reconstruction Fund was founded to reconstruct the Church of the Smolensk Mother of God Icon with the blessing of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The media bot will inform the members of the press about press gaggles, key speakers, event news and will allow them to communicate directly with representatives of the press service of ExpoForum International, to send requests for comments and interviews, and to ask questions. The Business Program section in the menu, will provide information on the events of the Forum.

The media bot will work at each event organized by ExpoForum International at ExpoForum and LenExpo. The goal is to make the work of the press more convenient and the interaction with the press service more effective. The Telegram bot is available under the name of @ExpoMediaBot.

According to the speaker, the sports component in the activity of ExpoForum International is developing dynamically and is aimed at attracting large-scale projects and shows: “We offer world-class products and services: unique events, positive experience and productive contacts. We are working closely with sports clubs, federations and associations; together with our partners, we develop ideas and strategies that allow our customers to achieve their goals”.

This year, ExpoForum International won the tender and became the operator for the 2016 Ice Hockey World Championship, the St. Petersburg leg. The event was attended by the national teams of 16 countries and St. Petersburg hosted 30 games, welcoming more than 5,000 spectators at each game. However, this is not the first experience of holding sports events: in 2013, the company held the SportAccord event successfully, the campaign “I Choose Sports” is held annually, as well as the Hipposphere competitions in equestrian sports, Zooshow canine sports event and the Governor’s Cup in Dance Sports.

Sports offer opportunities for the new EXPOFORUM Convention and Exhibition Centre: one pavilion (there are three) can host more than 5 thousand people (special sectional bleachers have been bought), the ceilings reach 18 metres, the mounting gates are 8 metres, the site can be equipped with all the necessary facilities from the training arena to the massage rooms.

We are currently negotiating with the sports federations and discussing proposals for holding such events as Show Jumping World Cup, Indoor Trial World Cup, as well as aqua biking, fencing and extreme sports competitions. ExpoForum received a Certificate of Compliance as a multi-purpose sports facility. The Convention and Exhibition Centre is included in the Russian Register of Sports Facilities of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. The facility can host competitions in 77 sports.

Sergey Voronkov, CEO of ExpoForum International, participated in the opening session of the VI All-Russian conference “Efficiency of Exhibition, Trade Fair and Convention Activities and Promotion of Domestic Goods and Services in the Domestic and Foreign Markets” with the report “Economy of Impressions as the Contemporary Trend. Multicomplexes and Events as a Driver for Convention and Exhibition Market”. As noted by Mr Voronkov, positive impressions of ExpoForum International customers and partners, as well as the visitors to events at ExpoForum and Lenexpo, are an integral indicator of the company’s performance. Impressions should also touch on the comfort and aesthetics of the venues, their rendered services, the significance content of events and the relationships between the parties. Mr Voronkov said, “Since August 2015, the issues of the customer loyalty index have been included in the polls of exhibitors and visitors at their own and guest events. This indicator is used in international experience showing which part of the project the participants are ready to recommend the product to their partners. The NPS of the market leaders exceeds 50%, the ExpoForum indicators by guest organisers are 63% and for their own projects the leaders are the Agrorus Exhibition Fair (70%) and the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum (67%)”.

Sergey Alexeev, Vice President of ExpoForum International and RUEF President, spoke at the opening session with the topic “Trade and Industrial Exhibitions as an Important Tool to Promote Products in the Domestic and Foreign Markets. World Experience”. He cited the following figures: 85 industry exhibitions are held in the world daily; exhibitions occupy an area of 30,000 football pitches; they bring together 260 million visitors each year; USD 100 billion is the annual turnover of the exhibition market. Mr Alexeev admitted that the producers of goods and services in Russia spend only 1% of the budget on promotion (including through exhibitions), while this figure in the developed countries is 5–6%. The speaker noted, “Exhibitions are a face-to-face-industry, which is particularly important in the online era. This is a really efficient way to get useful business contacts, the most advanced tool in bringing new industrial equipment to the market and an indispensable assistant in creating interregional and international relationships”.

On 7 June, Maria Tubianskaya, Project Manager for Sporting Events of the Hosted & Customised Events and Venue Services Division, will speak in the presentation area about EXPOFORUM as a multifunctional arena for sports competitions and events.

The professional judges’ panel decided on the laureates in five nominating categories. After a vote by the leading experts and media professionals, ExpoForum International was declared the best event organiser of 2015.

The EFEA Awards are awards conferred in the MICE industry, including the sector’s leading companies on the Russian market and the year’s best events – forums, exhibitions, conventions and festivals. This year, the information agency RBC St. Petersburg served as the awards’ official partner.

Residential Home № 4 Director Andrei Alexeenko expressed his gratitude to ExpoForum International for the assistance the company provided in purchasing sweet New Year’s treats for the kids living at the home. Quoting from the letter: “You gave the children a fairy-tale, and more importantly – faith that New Year’s is truly a time of wonder.”

As you may recall, philanthropy is a core area of activity at ExpoForum International. Aside from its patronage of Residential Home for Children with Developmental Delays № 4 in Pavlovsk, the company also participates in the grassroots movement “Golden Pelican” and actively supports various charitable programmes and campaigns.

For the first-time ever in its 90-year history, the UFI chose a representative of Russia as its president. Reacting to his election, Sergey Alexeev noted that the decision reflects the positive outlook for the ongoing development and increasing professionalism of the Russian exhibition industry, which plays an important role in the continuing economic growth of Russia and the entire world. “As the first Russian president of UFI, I will work hard to build close ties between members of the Russian and global exhibition industries. There have been many dramatic changes in the Russian exhibition business over the past 20 years, and as an active UFI member, I would like to help all industry participants better understand what our modern MICE-market is all about,” emphasised Alexeev in his remarks. The speaker also noted that in his new post, he plans not only to strengthen the firmly-established exhibition market of Europe, but also to help foster the industry’s development in the countries of ASEAN, Africa and Latin America. In his speech, Sergey Alexeev also expressed support for the initiative to introduce World Exhibition Day, promising to pursue active work in this area in conjunction with the American association partnering with UFI on the project.

This year, the 82^nd congress of the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI 2015) gathered together more than 500 industry professionals from 53 countries. The event included a gala celebration of the Association’s 90^th jubilee.

The award ceremony was held on 22 January at the IV Eurasian Event Forum. The nominees, including leading companies operating on the Russian market, were selected by monitoring. The winner was determined by a professional jury, which included representatives of the TASS Russia News Agency, the R&C Exhibition and Research Centre, the National Association of Event Organisers, the Association of Directors of Communications and Corporate Media of Russia and industry media.

The award organisers noted that “In 2014, St. Petersburg opened a new ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre, which is a landmark event for the meetings industry in Russia. This was the determining factor for the awarding of ExpoForum-International for such a significant contribution to the development of the industry”.

The EFEA Awards were organised by ExpoBusinessReview media project and the R&C Exhibition Research Centre. The general partner of EFEA Awards was TASS Russia News Agency.

Presentations on Russia’s potential were given by representatives of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, the Russian National Committee of the WEC, the Plenipotentiary Presidential Representative to the Northwestern Federal District, the St.Petersburg City Administration, and ExpoForum International.

During their visit, employees of the WEC central office were shown the city’s transport, logistics, and hospitality infrastructure, all of which possess a high capacity. The employees were also shown the new ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre, currently under construction, where the main events of the congress would be held.

In addition, the WEC delegation noted that St.Petersburg’s energy infrastructure offers many sites of interest for specialists visiting the forum, and that an interesting, diverse, and highly refined cultural programme is also on offer thanks to the city’s rich cultural heritage.

As Sergey Voronkov, General Director of ExpoForum International, noted, the opening of the ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre means that St.Petersburg will be able to host events befitting the city. “Making use of new resources, our company is implementing its strategy to make St.Petersburg part of the international events circuit, and is actively participating in bidding campaigns to host these events”, he said.

The inspection committee will submit its findings as a report to the WEC, and the final decision will be taken after the presentation of the bid, given by the Russian delegation under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Arkady Dvorkovich on 21–22 October 2014 in the city of Cartagena, Colombia.