Constructionshows
Saturday is developing more and more into an additional day for the trade
Every steinexpo is a new challenge in itself. At the recently concluded 8th demonstration exhibition for the raw materials and building materials industry in the MHI Nieder-Ofleiden stone quarry, organisers and exhibitors alike had high expectations. Jointly they had contributed generously so that these expectations were also met. With a total of 39,100 visitors over the four days, excellent technical discussions at the stands of exhibitors, additional events of all sizes and highly professional trade fair appearances, the trade fair closed on 3 September, with excellent results.
Taking a look into the crystal ball rather belongs to a different discipline, but not to a trade show devoted entirely to practical matters. At the steinexpo the focus is on the best available equipment and machinery for the mining, processing and transporting of mineral raw materials. That’s why Dr. Friedhelm Rese chose to be cautious at the start of the trade fair. “Any visitor tally of more than 25,000 is a good result,” said the trade fair director. He explained the marginally lower number of visitors compared to the previous event with the fact that the number of companies in the raw and building materials industry has declined slightly nationally and in Europe due to market concentration. Added is the fact that the industry mainly works with small margins, which means staff components are at a minimum. Consequently, fewer employees are sent on trade fair visits than previously.
For this very reason the trade fair organisers as well as the professional and conceptual partners have invested heavily in marketing initiatives to achieve a good result. Combine this with the unique attraction of this live exhibition and it finally led to a visitor’s result which satisfies all parties concerned.
This can also be ascribed to increasingly different visitor behaviour when compared with past experience. After an unusually slow Friday afternoon in terms of visitor numbers, as in 2008, the Saturday numbers greatly improved. Experts from companies where business is currently booming had set the Saturday aside for a visit.
Unusual situations as a positive spin-off
Due to the particular mix of trade visitors and interested lay people on Saturday, very interesting situations could be observed at the exhibition stands: visitors from outside the industry, in some cases entire families from the neighbourhood, had a double ‘wow’ factor when they followed the discussions between supply and demand and so became acquainted first hand with the needs and concerns of machine operators.
One more special observation: an increasing number of groups from nursery schools and primary schools came for a visit. Accompanied by representatives of the exhibition team, this visit turned into a super experience for these potential future customers. According to reports from the teachers, the steinexpo remains a favourite topic of conversation for a long time afterwards. And who knows: perhaps one of these little ones will become an exhibitor or trade visitor in the future.
Thumbs up for the great mood all round
The leading manufacturers of construction machinery, treatment and preparation technology suppliers, suppliers of add-on equipment and service providers give the 8th stone quarry demonstration exhibition steinexpo full marks. The excellent organisation and top quality of trade visitors were generally praised by all. Many exhibitors reported that such direct and focused in-depth technical discussions could not be found at any other trade fair.
Both exhibitors and visitors responded very positively to such highlights as the live presentation of the joint demonstration of construction machinery and the professional shows put on by individual exhibitors. In addition, and this despite the lasting good “open-air weather”, the exhibitors in the pavilions were also satisfied with this year’s response.
In the Nieder-Ofleiden stone quarry, a total of 206 exhibitors with approximately 330 represented trademarks, with their exhibits and service concepts, reproduced complete processes for the extraction of raw materials and the production of construction materials. The comprehensive offer ranging from the stone quarry rock face to the sale of the treated and processed products simply fascinated visitors. With this success, the exhibition follows on from the excellent results of the previous event in 2008, which ended with roughly equal numbers in terms of area, exhibitors and trademarks at the start and despite the slightly lower number of visitors, scored several image points in the overall impression stakes, as frequently expressed by visitors and exhibitors: “this show is much larger than in 2008”. In fact the exhibition was not larger, but its appeal was enhanced due to the specific contributions of all the exhibitors.
This year’s fairgrounds in the Nieder-Ofleiden stone quarry hosted a great show on a total area of approximately 180,000 square metres. About 105,000 square metres (gross) were set aside only as demonstration areas where action pure dominated.
At the close, the trade fair director Dr. Friedhelm Rese in his praise singled out the commitment of all those directly and indirectly involved: The partners of the event and also the exhibitors want the steinexpo to continue, and with that the very special quarry event, because of the long-lasting effect of its experiential value.
Date of the 9th steinexpo: 3-6 September 2014
Source: http://www.steinexpo.de
