Why Germany? It’ s still very much the heart of European manufacturing in the sectors we operate in. That means in some cases you need to put your event where the majority of the customers will be or are prepared to travel to. They also like to do business, they want to support your events, help make them successful, grow them and hopefully retain them for the future. |
How extensively did you research the markets there? Partly it is historic, our markets are already very well established in Europe so it’ s an obvious location, however you have to keep on top of market changes. For example, there has been a considerable move to lower priced manufacturing to some of the eastern European areas so we carried out a lot of research about the potential to run events in those areas. However the decision makers are still located in the Central |
European regions and that’ s our target audience. We could gain greater footfall from a lower level of decision maker but that’ s not what our customers really want. Our challenge is often to attract those top visitors from the other regions to those central European locations such as Germany. |
How do you work with the venue? As always it varies depending on the event and the market sector we are in. The big difference is that so many of the German Messes run their own events so there is a certain amount of regional competition. On the plus side, they are totally committed to making their events work because they have a direct commercial interest. On the down side, if the other venues see a level of success they will often look to compete or find a niche within the established events to exploit themselves. As we are also media owners, we |
often bring a lot of content in terms of conferences, seminars, networking events and market expertise, as well as marketing and promotional routes to market. The venues bring support from the city councils, regional agencies and a viable cost base plus they are very good at gaining support from German industry associations and other organisations.
What, if any, are the cultural differences you’ ve encountered? Not as many as you might find in other areas. They are straight-talking, happy to say no, which some might see initially as a little abrasive but it saves a lot of time and wasted effort. They can be a little protective at times, for example if someone in their organisation screws up it can be difficult getting things sorted out and moving forward again. They also see the bigger picture and work on a global scale. They
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find where the business opportunities are in the world and they go and find partners to exploit that opportunity. It’ s very much our business ethos so we tend to understand each other.
What do you wish you’ d known beforehand? I love the people, they’ re always professional and great fun, have a good sense of humour and are very welcoming. On the down side, some of the airlines are that fly between the UK and certain Germany cities are bad. I can’ t tell you how much time I’ ve wasted at airports, however the beer, sausages and pork knuckle go some way to making it bearable. One word of warning, don’ t accept German efficiency as guaranteed. In particular when it comes to stand building, regulations and on-site health and safety. As the organiser, it’ s your name above the door so make sure they meet your standards. ■■■
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