Annemieke den Otter, exhibitions manager at Rotterdam Ahoy

The infrastructure sector is still too much seen as a man's world. Nothing could be further from the truth. More and more women are finding jobs and a place in the world of civil engineering. And we are happy to introduce them to you in detail. In each edition of GWW/Bouwmat we let a woman from the sector talk about her job and what exactly makes it so attractive. In this edition, we give the floor to Annemieke den Otter, exhibitions manager at Rotterdam Ahoy.

After a college communications degree, Annemieke decided to try her luck in television more than 25 years ago. That didn't last long. "It was a conscious decision to leave that world," she says firmly. "I then went to work for a company operating in the oil and gas sector and was responsible for organizing trade shows. I enjoyed doing that for 15 years. It's a tremendously cool sector, very internationally oriented too. About five years ago I was at a tipping point and asked myself out loud: do I want to keep working in this sector forever or am I going to make a whole new sector my own, preferably with a focus on organizing trade shows. And so at the end of 2019 I stumbled upon the vacancy of exhibition manager InfraTech at Ahoy."

To this day, Annemieke has not regretted the move to the infrastructure sector for a single moment. "It's a completely different sector than where I came from," she says. And she also had quite a tough start, as corona crippled the entire event business. "In my first year at Ahoy, I actually had a hard time networking and getting to know the sector that was new to me. Appointments were all remote, whereas my heart is with meeting people. But in the end that worked out quite well. We are now back in full preparation for InfraTech 2025. It's going very well. A large number of companies have already signed up again, a nice mix of suppliers, clients and contractors."

Ahoy itself is responsible for fair organization. "We organize several titles at Ahoy for our own account and risk, including the ABN AMRO Open Tennis Tournament and several trade fairs, such as the InfraTech in the Netherlands and recently also in Germany. It's a very professional world. I don't feel that I have a harder time as a woman, although of course I am facilitating the sector. A field in which there are usually many women working. Although I do notice that some knowledge of the sector is appreciated. And I find that important myself. You can only love something if you know something about it. So I don't feel undervalued at all. Inclusiveness is also a theme at InfraTech. We show that the sector really is there for everyone."

Annemieke praises the resilience of the infrastructure sector. "The new cabinet taking office will probably mean the necessary changes in laws and regulations again. And so it is with the rules imposed from Brussels. I think the market is handling them very well, even if it is sometimes quite tough. People do have the resilience to anticipate this together. Because that is also characteristic of the sector: working together and seeking the connection. It is top of mind for everyone. As InfraTech in mid-January 2025, we are once again making a contribution to this by ensuring that people can look for and meet each other."