PPMA: Exhibitors stunned at 'quality turnout'
02 October 2009
If the quality of leads, the satisfaction of exhibitors and the general 'buzz' is anything to go by, the recession must be on its last legs. That's the conclusion of many exhibitors at this year's PPMA show reports David Strydom.
Although the official results, including visitor numbers, have not as yet been released at the time of going to press, there is little doubt the Show, which was held at Birmingham's NEC between 29 September-1 October, was a roaring success for exhibitors and has given the surest sign yet the recession may be on the way out.
There was a handful of disgruntled exhibitors but they were vastly outnumbered by those who told FP EXPRESS that this year's Show was one of the most successful they'd attended in years. ''The quality of the leads has been very impressive,'' said Lafert's Brian Bannister, who added he'd been visited by large food companies within 20 minutes of the PPMA opening shop on the first day. His company makes stainless-steel motors for the food and beverage industry and he says the PPMA is always a productive show, although this year had exceeded expectations.
''If I went home right now,'' said Brian halfway through Wednesday, the second day of the Show, ''I'd still be able to say I've had enough quality leads to make exhibiting very worthwhile indeed.''
A beaming Andrew Hudson, MD of Advanced Enginnering concurred. ''It's not often you get the 'big boys' in the industry coming to your stand, and when they do you know they mean business. We've had some fantastic leads at this Show.''
''We exhibited last year and had such fantastic enquiries we found it very difficult to justify NOT exhibiting this year,'' said Roger Benton, marketing executive at Bosch Rexroth. ''It's been a great show this year - we've had loads of enquiries on all three days, and have plenty of opportunities to follow up on.''
In varying degrees, the reaction was similar among the other exhibitors to whom we spoke. Some mentioned the fact that the exhibition was noticeably smaller than last year but then quickly followed up with the fact that the enquiries being generated were much more valuable and that they felt footfall was vastly increased.
James Radcliffe, a sales manager with Interfood Technology, said although he'd had ''my best year ever'' in terms of sales, the recession had certainly impacted on the Show as there were ''far less exhibitors''. ''The first day was busy until 2pm,'' he said, ''and today (Wednesday) has been very busy. We took this stand as a speculative exercise. It was worth a try as our parent company is very keen on finding new applications for our equipment.''
Peter Jolley, general manager of Kern, which has its parent company in Bern, Switzerland, was another who joined the chorus of praise-singers. ''This year's Show has been a resounding success. As we are speaking, there are seven customers on our stand. We had doubts about attending this year as visitor numbers have been generally lower on many exhibitions across Europe. I genuinely didn't know how many people I would get through the doors. But the PPMA has done a good job in getting people through the doors.''
One exhibitor pointed out that while the last Show had been held just as Britain's economy was about to fall off a cliff, and the mood was correspondingly gloomy among visitors, this year's Show was much more upbeat, as if many felt the worst was behind them.
''I think I always had confidence the Show was going to go well,'' said Chris Buxton, CEO of the PPMA. ''But I didn't know it was going to quite as well as it has. To hear the positive comments and high spirits from the exhibitors has made the whole experience very worthwhile.''
Deborah Conneely, marketing manager for the PPMA, echoed that view: ''We're really pleased with how the Show has gone, given the current economic climate. And the buyers who are coming through this time are serious. We've heard of one company taking a million pound quote.''
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