A community meets
To let practitioners talk to practitioners and sound out the trends in the trade fair business: That is the aim of the Expobusiness Congress, an annual platform by exhibitors for exhibitors for benchmarking and sharing experience.

Trade fairs are under attack as an expensive marketing tool. The costs, the role of the stand staff, and involvement of new media not just for preparation and follow-up work but also during the event itself were the most talked about topics at the Expobusiness Congress in Nuremberg on September 8 and 9, 2010. The organisers of the Expobusiness Congress, the Akademie der Messe Frankfurt and m+a Verlag, also in Frankfurt, had arranged a varied, multi-faceted and high-calibre conference programme. Trade fair appearances outside Germany were addressed, as were trade fairs and the media, trade fair contracting/design or the (new) customer dialogue at trade fairs. "Exhibition stand tuning", "visitor marketing", "storytelling for more success at the booth" or "trade fair controlling with balanced scorecards" were all workshop topics. A trade fair think-tank dealt with "social media". The professionals running the intensive workshop programmes included Jörg Christian Meßwarb, consultant, trainer and coach, and Ralph E. Hartleben, professor of international marketing and management.

The next big trend will be mobile communication

Both experts are convinced proponents of the trade fair as a marketing tool but see room for optimisation in the allocation of trade fair funds and a need for exhibitors to improve in this respect.

By exhibitors for exhibitors: Rudolf Sommer, Corporate Head of Events, Fairs and Promotions at EnBW, competently hosted the programme of the two-day conference, which the organisers had mottoed "Trade Fairs:Event.Experience.Success". Jutta Jakobi, Marketing & Communications, IBM Germany, clearly laid out in her introductory statement how important trade fairs are for marketing to decision-makers but also said that the aim is not just to "stand there but to come up with results". Even when budgets are not so tight, Ralf Claußen, Director Communication/Advertising, Eppendorf, thinks ideas trump budgets.

"We look for the value added through ideas".
Barter instead of cash payment is his motto. "Coping with costs requires more than controlling; it demands ideas." Even though you cannot download personal conversations, the next big trend at trade fairs will be mobile communications. Claus Fesel, head of central marketing at Datev, makes out a "growing trend towards live communications through social media". It is an inexpensive and appealing way of making strong leads out of weak leads. "For us, it is a tool for nurturing relationships and a path to the future."

No tour round an exhibition without an intelligent mobile assistant – that is how futurologist Sven Gábor Jánsky envisages an exhibition visit in 2020. His often radical viewpoints provided exactly the right introduction to the evening event: They made for lively debate, helping delegates get to know each other and share experiences. That was very much in evidence on the second day of the congress: The mood was different and there was more willingness to talk. Courage to try new approaches was the demand with which Günter Ettinger, Brose Fahrzeugteile, kicked off the second day of the convention. Despite the crisis of the automotive industry and its suppliers, his company exhibited at IAA in Frankfurt.

With a new concept – lounge instead of stand – the marketing director scored well for his company according to all important indicators. Just how efficient working with templates is for her company was expounded by Petra Baumann, head of corporate marketing, Phoenix Contact. For her, efficiency also means consistency. Tilmann Stauske, head of fairs and conferences, Volkswagen, talked about how his employer is faced with major challenges and how these have consequences for exhibition policy. Every category B trade fair in China is now bigger than IAA and sells more.

"That is a big issue for us", he says. Interaction between exhibitors and the organiser is not always smooth. To discuss the biggest problems, there was a programme item "hot seat". Nils Passoter, head of international trade fair management, Weidmüller, and Robert Sarga, head of the service centre for media and communications at BASF, discussed with Claus Rättich, board member of Nürnbergmesse and Andreas Winckler, managing director of Frankfurt Medien und Service. For those interested in attending (again) next year: Expobusiness Congress 2011 will be held November 28 and 29 in Frankfurt. ch

Premiere für das Expertenteam

„Expo-Improvement-Community“

„Anbietergemeinschaften sind die Zukunft der Dienstleistung“

„Mehr Messe für’s Geld“ – mit dieser Zielvorgabe haben sich vier Experten als „Expo-Improvement-Community“ erstmalig zum expobusiness congress 2010 zusammengeschlossen. „All in One" ist heute der Trend und so können wir den Messebesuchern ein effizientes Komplettpaket anbieten“, erklärt Mitbegründer und Marketing- bzw. Markeninszenierungsspezialist Jörg Messwarb.

Mit Vorträgen, Workshops und einem eigenen Messestand informierten Sie über die grundlegenden Anforderungen eines Messebesuchs. Schwerpunkte waren Ziel- und Strategiedefinition, Konzept, Standbau Personal, Controlling und Messenachbearbeitung.

80 % der Aussteller sehen in diesen Bereichen die größten Defizite. Eine deutliche und nachhaltige Verbesserung kann aber nur erzielt werden, wenn man den gesamten Wertschöpfungsprozess angeht und für durchgängige Synergien sorgt. „Um das für unsere Kunden konsequent leisten zu können, haben wir uns zu einer Anbietergemeinschaft zusammengeschlossen, die genau die fünf Hauptproblembereiche ausstellender Unternehmen abbildet,“ so die Kommunikationsexpertin Spomenka Kolar-Zovko. In dieser Art der Zusammenarbeit sieht sie die Zukunft der Dienstleistungsbranche.

Der Besuch des expobusiness congress und die Resonanz der Teilnehmer bestätigen diese Denkweise. „Durch das Expertenteam bekomme ich eine globale Versorgung und das alles aus einer Hand. Ich fühle mich als Besucher ernst genommen und super beraten“, resümiert die Kongressbesucherin Maria Melzner.

Fazit des neuen Expertenteams „Expo-Improvement-Community“:

Die neuen Kommunikationsthemen für 2011 sind und bleiben Anerkennung, Social Media und Zielüberprüfung. Auch in den Workshops der neuen Community werden das die zentralen Themen sein. Wichtig sei, laut Aussage des Expertenteams, dass man Trends erkennt, versteht und sie für die ausstellenden Unternehmen aufbereitet.  Dies gelingt umso besser in einer Anbietergemeinschaft.

„Expo-Improvement-Community“

MB Services Meßwarb GbR: Consulting und Coaching für den Markenauftritt und Wettbewerbsanalyse weltweit

zoommarketing - teach local act global: Training und Vorträge für Vertriebsteams

ICOM Messebau GmbH: ein Unternehmen, welches sich auf hochwirksame, schlüsselfertige Inszenierungen von Marken und Unternehmen über alle Sinne spezialisiert hat

IRKU GmbH & Co.KG: seit Jahren tätig im Bereich der Konzeptentwicklung, der Strategieberatung und – mit einzigartigen, praxiserprobten Tools – im Messe-Controlling.

Herausgeber

Redaktion:

PROFIL PR & Werbeagentur GmbH
Ansprechpartner: Juliane Tomat
Anger 9, 99084 Erfurt
Tel.: 03 61 / 2 24 87 - 18
Fax: 03 61 / 2 24 87 - 17
tomat@profilpr.de
www.profilpr.de           

Expobusiness Congress, Nürnberg 2010, der Community Treff :
 

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