Tracey Schropp - Exhibitor Magazine

In order to reflect what I have learned during the Certified Tradeshow Marketer (CTSM)
program, I will center on our largest International tradeshow in Europe, “Productronica”.
Productronica is held every 2 years in Munich, Germany. This show has presented
many unique situations including the integration of multiple brands under one umbrella.
Combining different divisions involves many challenges such as providing preferential
location within the booth, working with different logos, budgets, objectives, and
conflicting customer and distributor relationships. Other trials with this show in Germany
include cultural differences, language barriers, and foreign exchange fluctuations.
Productronica 2009 had 1,106 exhibitors in 7 halls with 40% from abroad, and 28,579
registered trade visitors in attendance with 40% outside Germany and 15% outside
Europe. The tradeshow takes place every other November and is considered the
leading international trade fair for electronics production in Europe.
Productronica had separate halls to each focus on an industry segment. Selecting the
hall is the first challenge when combining company divisions into one booth that have
different segment focuses. As I learned in Session 20101: “The Power of Tradeshows”,
visitors to an exhibition typically have an agenda in mind, so having presence in the hall
where they expect to find you is important.
The significant halls to our group were:
• A3/A2 - component mount technology
• A2/A1 - test and measurement
• B2 – printed circuit board manufacturing
With the downturn in 2009 some halls were
combined, making it possible to have 4 of the
5 Nordson companies in Hall A2.
The ability to be in the same hall, along with a
2009 show objective to save costs, it was
destined that I would then organize a single
150 sqm booth to share between Nordson
ASYMTEK, Nordson YESTECH, and Nordson
EFD.
In addition, I managed a second booth for Nordson MARCH in Hall B2, but this portfolio
will focus on the shared booth in Hall A2 and in particular the tradeshow marketing
program specifically of Nordson ASYMTEK.
CTSM Portfolio – Tracey Schropp Page 7