Page 144 - AIT0918_E-Paper

VERKAUF UND PRÄSENTATION • RETAIL AND PRESENTATION THEORIE • THEORY

Thesis 2: The story is everything

For a long time, fairs were stages for exhibits. The future, however, will belong to the
telling of individual stories. This thesis is strongly based on the issue of digitization which
forces us to make it possible to experience larger, innovative contexts. At the same time,
it would be insufficient to reduce storytelling to just this, since a company’s marketing
rightly focuses increasingly on homogeneous stories supplied by all the media. Current –
often international – campaigns, claims and key visuals today have much more influence
on the architecture and the design of a stand. The story determines the format! In such
campaign-oriented communication, trade fairs are the building blocks of the “live expe-
rience” which is of special importance nowadays. Brands see fairs or events as a chance
to get very close to potential customers. Thus they want what can be described as unique
productions to move from representing the technology to representing a process all the
way to an experience. LED walls increasingly replace projections and split-wall systems.
The media become more and more an integral part of the overall picture. Content clearly
before technology! Thus the visitors are enabled to understand the bigger picture or even
become a part of the story. This brings us to the third thesis.

Thesis 3: Interaction is the new production

Interaction at a stand is a concept which should not be confused with creating dialogue.
Fairs are basically places of encounter intended to motivate exhibitors and visitors to
communicate. Interaction rather means inviting visitors to try something out, to partici-
Abbildungen: (c) Expotechnik Heinz Soschinski GmbH, Taunusstein plex connections. But just as important is an individually designed atmosphere which
pate. It is all about the dosage. You shouldn’t degrade the stand of an international brand
to a playground. Participation is attractive whenever it serves the understanding of com-

builds trust, inspires and, at best, customer loyalty. This kind of atmosphere can be more
of a competition advantage than nuances in the price or the product achievement.
Interaction can be more important than just counting visitors.
Thesis 4: Culture is more important than trends

and graphics, combinations of blond wood for furniture and decoration, brass and cop-
per colours and plenty of green – fair presentations take up ideas from the social net-
Die Digitalisierung wird den Messebau der Zukunft prägen. • Digitization will characterize the future. Of course the design of stands is influenced by trends. Polygonal forms in architecture
works and multiply them. Yet, as already mentioned, such “superficial” influences are
increasingly determined by thinking about content, with cultural aspects playing an
T rade-fairs have existed for more than 1,300 years. Along the major trade routes, increasingly more important role. As an example which is directly derived from our com-
they were established as temporary limited exhibitions where the traders were
munication behaviour: epic product descriptions are out. Short messages on Twitter or
able to present their goods. Yet to believe that exactly now fair construction is con- the image world of Instagram have to be seen as a cultural development and new ways
siderably changing would be wrong. All along, the trade-fair business has been a mir- of implementing it at fairs have to be found. As to communication as well as to space!
ror of economic trends, cultural influences and innovative developments. So is there Brands and customers are furthermore become more international and thus the influence
nothing really new in the fair construction of today or the future? Yes, there is. We of culture gains and individual significance that has to be understood and accepted. The
are experiencing a significant change. We look at this closely and are meanwhile able Japanese self-image, for instance, is characterized by being rather reserved and the
to list five theses we discuss internally but also with our clients. Japanese prefer to read more instead of addressing a product manager. These aspects
have to be kept in mind at the international level instead of just establishing trendy
Thesis 1: Digitization brings everything up to date design.

The major challenge for future projects will always be not to look at these theses Thesis 5: Sustainability gets a boost
selectively but also to evaluate and implement them specifically for clients and in an
effective strategic context. A task which is certainly strongly anchored in the design Sustainability is an ongoing issue and of course an important aspect for the concept and
– but that also has to be thought about with the central keyword “communication in the design. In the trade-fair business, this means recycled materials, modular construc-
space”. Let us start with the first thesis: What will change the stand of the future are tion, avoiding what seems to be unnecessary. This is in contrast, however, to the current
not digital gadgets such as the tablet, touch table, 3-D glasses or augmented reality, development towards highly individualized architectures and short communication- and
but the digitization of the clients and their companies themselves. Traditional sectors campaign intervals. With the help of modern planning- and production techniques, how-
such as engineering will merge with new possibilities. Completely new fair formats ever, this contradiction can be overcome. Thus modular systems can in future be individ-
appear: automobiles at electronics conferences, LAN parties at industrial fairs, cloud ually designed in small series, construction components no longer shipped but CNC-man-
computing of household appliances. This shows that we have to think in larger con- ufactured on site. The exhibits play a special role. Particularly for the engineering sector,
texts. How do we competently assist the strategies of the clients who are increasingly trade fairs mean enormous efforts. Transport, assembling, dismantling and revising the
becoming more digital? How do we convince which target groups? We clearly have machines before they are sold are time-consuming and costly. Virtual exhibits, simula-
to focus our concept on the motto of “customer centricity”. Making digitization visible tions in real time or other intelligent representation of the functions will in future be able
as a unique benefit and letting clients and visitors experience it takes fair construc- to replace some of the actual major exhibits. Ultimately, all these changes mean that
tion up to a completely new level. exhibitors will have to attune even more to their customers and communicate with them.

144 • AIT 9.2018