Bureau International des Expositions

In the first post, I published that I am going to Paris to complete my master's internship at the Bureau International des Expositions, better known as BIE.

In this post, I will give you some more information about the institution in which I will be working in a few weeks.

I am sure that you may have seen expos around the world, either in your country some time ago or in another country. In my case, the one I most remember is the expo in Zaragoza in 2008.

Well, then, the BIE is the organization that is responsible for regulating all the expositions that last more than 3 weeks and are "non-commercial in nature" (BIE, 2017). There are fours types of expos that are organized nowadays: world expos, specialized expos, horticultural expos and the triennale di Milano.

Source: Astana 2017, Bureau International des Expositions

But what is the objective of these non commercial expos? According to BIE, these expos aim to educate the public, promote progress and innovation and to share experiences. In fact, as BIE states "They are an extraordinary way to reach out to a broad audience and a place where influencers, experts, the civil society and political representatives can work together".

Source: Bureau International des Expositions

There are 4 types of expos:

• World Expos: receiving more than 10millions of visitors, it is a way to build extraordinary pavilions and changing the landscape of a city, as he case of Paris with the Eiffel Tower; many of you may not know, but the Eiffel tower was built thanks to an expo and it was supposed to be removed after the event, but as you know, it was kept there and it's one of the most visited monuments in the world. World expos aim to discuss international and universal problems that come out nowadays (climate change, urbanism... ).
• Specialized expos: events that aim to find solutions for challenges such as the future of the energy (in the expo of this year, this is the aim --> Astana 2017).
• Horticultural expos: Together with the Association of International Horticultural Producers, these are the World Horticultural expos.
• Triennale di Milano: this is the only expo that takes place in the same place, in Milan. It receives people from the design industry.

Source: Bureau International des Expositions

The BIE was created in 1928 by 31 member states, but nowadays, more than 169 countries are members of this organization.

To be honest, I couldn't have found something better for my internship... I have always loved events and when these are international, the combination bcomes perfect. In fact, I think that it perfectly suits with my studies: International relations, due to the 170 countries which are members and the international scope of the institution; and tourism, with its relation to the events and the importance that these events bring to the tourism of the city in question.

I am very excited to start this adventure, the interview gave me lot of good sensations and I am pretty sure that I will enjoy this experience to the fullest and that I will try to work as good as I can in order to help this great Institution.

Source: Bureau International des Expositions

Cheers!

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