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Director of the Paris Boat Show since 1996, Jean-Daniel Compain became Managing Director of Reed OIP in 2000 and its 17 events: Salon du Livre (Book Fair), the Paris Boat Show, the Cannes Yachting Festival, Salon du Livre de Jeunesse (Youth Book Fair), Apple Expo, the Education Show and more, including FIAC, which had started to stall before he and his teams helped it to recover in spectacular fashion to become of the three leading international fairs.

Known as Reed Expositions France after the merger in 2002 with Miller Freeman, it is one of the biggest event organiser in France with more than 60 shows per year.

Member of the Executive Board, Jean-Daniel Compain was the senior vice-president of Culture, Luxury and Leisure for 15 years, developing a portfolio of trade shows, some of which are now among the most iconic in France and around the world:

  • The Salon Nautique de Paris (Paris Boat Show) and the Cannes Yachting Festival, among the top largest international boat shows
  • The Salon du Livre (Paris Book Fair), considered today as one of the most important shows open to the public within the world of publishing
  • FIAC: having taken over the management of the moribund FIAC event in 2003, he transformed it so that it’s now one of the top 3 contemporary art fairs in the world, along with Art Basel and Frieze.
  • Paris Photo: after leading the buy-out of this small show, he chose to change its location from the Carrousel du Louvre to the Grand Palais. In the space of a few years, Paris Photo has become the biggest photography fair in the world.
  • Paris Photo Los Angeles which he launched in 2013 in Paramount's iconic studios in West Hollywood.

After working as an organiser of shows and events in France and around the world for 20 years, Jean-Daniel Compain left Reed Exhibitions in April 2016 to found Next Opus.?

The Biennial of Antique Dealers and Jewellers became its first client as of May 2016. Within a few months, he launched the 28th edition of the Biennale, alongside the French National Association of Antique Dealers. He boosted the number of exhibitors from 74 to 125 and, for the first time in its history, increased the participation of foreign antique dealers to nearly 40%. Under his leadership, the 2016 Biennale innovated by hosting three exceptional exhibitions:

  • “Un siècle d’élégance française” (“A century of French elegance”) with the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, whose general committee is led by Georges-François Hirsch.
  • “Tradition et Audace” (“Tradition and Daring”) with Mobilier National (a French national service agency) in Paris
  • “A la conquête du Temps” (“The Conquest of Time”) with the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (Foundation of Fine Watchmaking) in Geneva

Despite a complex background context, the French and international media both emphasised the successful edition of the show.