Superfan on a mission to collect rare pavilion pin badges
▶ Boyko Novev has more than 40, each representing a happy memory
An Expo 2020 Dubai passport is a must-have souvenir, allowing visitors to collect stamps from each of the pavilions in a “round-the-world” tour.
But there is a secret upgrade to the simple stamp – for those in the know, that is.
Boyko Novev, 34, from Bulgaria is one of those people. He works as a host for the Netherlands pavilion, and is something of an Expo superfan.
He first worked at Expo 2015 Milan in the EU pavilion, and has also visited the horticultural expo held in Antalya, Turkey, in 2016 and a mini expo in Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2017.
He applied for several jobs at Expo 2020 Dubai to make sure he had a reason to be at the event every day.
“I like Expo because we can meet 192 nationalities from all over the world,” Mr Novev said.
“You can dance with Kazakh dancers in the morning, you can see the Netherlands sustainability concerts in the afternoon, and in the evening you can go to the Indian pavilion and have dinner.”
As a souvenir of his experience, each time Mr Novev visits a pavilion, he asks the organisers for one of their badges, or pins.
Nearly all of the pavilions have them for their staff and distinguished guests, but it is often not easy to persuade a pavilion representative to relinquish one. Sometimes staff swap pins, Mr Novev said.
“There is a tradition within Expo employees to exchange pins and to socialise in this way,” he said.
“It’s similar to the visitors’ experience where they collect stamps in their Expo passport. So the employees they are exchanging pins. It’s like bringing the Expo story on to another level.”
At first it was difficult to source the sought-after pins, but now that he has dozens pinned to his accreditation badge, most people want to help him build his collection.
He has collected more than 40 so far, and each represents a connection forged.
“I do not just exchange pins in front of the pavilion. I enter the pavilion, I have chat with people, sometimes with directors of the pavilion or staff members, and in that way I make new memories and new friendships,” Mr Novev said.
“Each exchange of pin means a lot to me.”
His favourite pins include the one from his own pavilion, a rainbow-coloured circle from the UN Sustainable Development Goals project, one from Poland because the people were very friendly, and the Kazakh pin, given his fond memories of the expo in Astana, which was later renamed Nur-Sultan.
He also has pins from Turkey, Moldova, New Zealand and Brazil – his favourite pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.
With five more months of Expo 2020 Dubai to go, Mr Novev hopes to continue to collect pins, but he said he did not need one from every country to complete his collection, nor was it a competition.
“I’m not interested in the total number of pins that I’m about to collect – it is more important the chats that I had with colleagues, the new friendships, and the new culture that I explore,” he said.