YOUR FORUM FOR PLAY, SPORTS UND LEISURE AREAS
Trade fair - no longer an adequate event? The saying “There is life in the old dog yet!” perfectly fits to the trade fair duo aquanale and FSB, which – after having showed a dynamic restart - came to an end after four trade fair days in Cologne on Friday, 29 October 2021. The two leading international trade fairs for Sauna, Pool, Ambience and for Amenity Areas, Sports and Exercise Facilities were able to provide the impetus for successful industry development hoped for by all trade fair participants. More than 16,000 trade visitors from 103 countries came to be informed about the range of products and services offered by the 466 exhibiting companies from 45 countries. "In sports, one would speak of a convincing performance, which all the fair participants achieved together. The quality of visitors was outstanding and shows that decision-makers need and use the trade fair format," said Executive Vice President of Koelnmesse Oliver Frese very satisfied. "As the first physical sector trade fairs after two years, aquanale and FSB have managed to provide the impetus that everyone needed after the challenging period due to the Covid-19 pandemic and have thus given the sectors involved the necessary confidence and perspective for the tasks ahead."
In addition to the very good visitor numbers, the strong international popularity was also convincing - over 61 percent came from abroad. Most visitors came to Cologne from the BeNeLux countries, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey and the Ukraine, but also from the Near and Middle East - especially from Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia - as well as from the USA and Canada.
The high level of decision-making authority of the visitors contributed significantly to the successful course of the fair and the satisfaction of the exhibiting companies. A first evaluation of the visitor survey underlines that, across all events, around two thirds of the respondents are involved in the procurement decision, 64 percent of them even decisively or co-decisively. A good two-thirds of the visitors were very satisfied with the range of products and services on show and around 78 percent were very satisfied with the way they achieved their goals. 83 percent would recommend their visit to aquanale and FSB to others. More than 70 percent were very satisfied or satisfied with their visit to the fair, especially against the background of the current general conditions, and around 65 percent of those surveyed are already planning to visit the next events in 2023.
FSB 2021
At FSB 2021, 288 companies from 37 countries participated with a comprehensive overview of all products and topics related to open space, playground equipment, outdoor fitness, sports equipment, sports floors and stadium infrastructure.
"The right signal at the right time - FSB and the IAKS Congress have brought together the relevant players and revived the all-important personal dialogue. Because the decisive factor on our way to sustainable and climate-friendly sports and leisure facilities are concepts that are supported and implemented by all stakeholders involved. Only a concerted approach will help us in the upcoming decisions in an environment that has been changed by the pandemic," says IAKS President Dr Stefan Kannewischer.
The trade fair presentation of the Federal Association for Manufacturers of Playground Equipment and Leisure Facilities – BSFH - and the trade magazine Playground@Landscape, which focused on the topics "Creative Schoolyard Design - Pupils Need Physical Activity" and "Safety on Playgrounds", was well attended.
The "STADTundRAUM" (city and space) theme area was also very well received with its workshops, congress topics, the well-known planners' forum, the presentation of the German Playground Award and an attractive special show on current topics such as open space planning, mobility, urban planning and development.
Decision-makers from clubs, municipalities, politics and stadiums as well as leading companies in the sports facility industry met for exciting discussions in the networking area SPORTNETZWERK.FSB (sports network FSB), an initiative of Koelnmesse and Sportstättenrechner (the latter calculates the individual costs associated with sports facility construction).
However, one should question the trade fair policy of some companies: booking into neighbouring hotels to Koelnmesse to receive customers there and thus save on the "expensive" trade fair venue is too short-sighted in the long run.
The next sector meeting place is the GaLaBau trade fair in Nuremberg: on 15 December 2021, the registration phase for exhibitors closes for GaLaBau 2022, which will once again take place live on site in Nuremberg from 14 to 17 September. The figures so far are extremely promising: "We are overwhelmed by the huge response we are receiving from the industry. Even before the official registration phase started, we received numerous enquiries about when the event would finally start. We have been receiving new registrations every day for months now, and 75 percent of the space has already been booked. The playground area is also developing well. We are very pleased that our exhibition halls will be filled with life again," says Head of GaLaBau NürnbergMesse Stefan Dittrich. "The Federal Association BSFH and Playground@Landscape are getting involved again and are once more expanding their supporting and lecture programme under the guiding theme 'Playgrounds are system-relevant', including the topics of sustainability and climate change."
Trade Fair Statements FSB 2021
Antje Gries (Company SIK-Holzgestaltungs GmbH):
"A small, clearly arranged FSB in Cologne 2021 has come to an end. The reduced participation of exhibitors enabled us to get a quick overview of the entire aquanale and FSB. Many well-known manufacturers of playground equipment were missing.
But almost all of our foreign partners accepted our invitation to FSB, so we were able to engage in a constructive exchange with them in person after such a long time, which we felt was very positive for both sides. Our German customers also visited us at our stand to exchange current topics, here we did not expect such a large number of visitors.
Furthermore, many new contacts were made, which now need to be deepened.
We found the Covid-19 safety measures very positive and appropriate. On the other hand, we had great difficulties with the FSB app and e-slot beforehand, which were too complicated, especially for service technicians. We would appreciate a significant simplification in handling this. But apart from that, we are looking forward to FSB 2023."
Valentin Huck (Company Huck Seiltechnik GmbH):
"It was once again very nice to meet customers in person at the fair. The hygiene measures were completely okay. The trade fair app was a disaster! Almost every visitor complained about how complicated the registration and ticketing process was. The number of visitors was rather moderate, but that was to be expected. Here, of course, we hope that the visitor numbers will increase significantly again at the next fairs. “
Camilla Grebe (Company Spogg Sport-Güter GmbH):
"Our expectations were met insofar as we assumed already in advance that the number of visitors would not be the same as in the years before the Covid-19 pandemic. Compared to that, the fair was not bad at all. However, we definitely lacked foreign interested parties and new contacts, we only had a few at the stand.
We also missed many urban and municipal representatives. I assume and hope that this was still due to the pandemic and because the overall situation only slowly recovers and takes some more time to return to normal.
However, it can be observed that FSB is generally getting smaller each time. Three days at the fair would have been quite sufficient.
David Köhler (Company Berliner Seilfabrik GmbH & Co.):
"Especially in times of a pandemic, the participation in trade fairs is a decision with a particular risk. We have decided to take this risk. For us Berliners, a trade fair commitment is always "all or nothing". Simple representative stands without real innovations are, expressed in more casual terms, not our thing. We approached FSB in this way and no other. Our commitment to participating in FSB in Cologne can also be understood as a commitment to the region. Our customers in the federal Land of North Rhine-Westphalia and the surrounding area expected our participation. So we felt committed to be there.
The presentation at our 170 sqm stand in Hall 9 focused on the market launch of a new type of modular and inclusive play system, complemented by an interactive play offer called LevelUp. In addition, we presented "Lunia", a space net structure in the shape of a hot air balloon, on the trade fair boulevard for the first time at a German trade fair. Fortunately, all this attracted an overall satisfactory number of national and international visitors.
We found that the Covid-19 security concept of the fair was appropriate. We are not in a position to judge whether the newly developed app was helpful in this context. Unfortunately, the new app did not run without errors in the run-up. In our view, FSB has a good chance of continuing to be a sector meeting place of both national and international relevance in the future. In this context, it is crucial that we succeed even better in getting the relevant industry scene to participate in the future.
Guido Valcke (Company Europlay):
"The safety measures regarding the Covid-19 pandemic were okay, we definitely felt safe at the fair. However, all registrations needed to be done via the application which did not run smoothly at all. We had a lot of problems before the start of the fair when redeeming the voucher codes we received. The application did not work well beforehand. During the event it did work well but the QR scanner to scan data of the visitors did not work for us, so it was rather useless for us...
We had a lot of good contacts during the first three days. However, the number of visitors was definitely less than in former years. The last day was a disaster. There were hardly any visitors. So we dismantled the stand earlier than we were allowed to...
Due to the reduced number of stands, our products received more attention from the visitors. There were both enough national and international contacts, so definitely an interesting public.
The future of FSB is rather uncertain. There were fewer visitors, fewer stands and the cost is very high. At this moment we are not sure whether we will attend in 2023.
Christian Schierenbeck (Company SYN-play GmbH):
"As an internationally operating company for rope play and jumping equipment that was newly founded in 2020, our participation in FSB was of course an obligation for us. The number of visitors, at least in Hall 9, could be described as very low from our point of view and compared with the events of the past few years. As usual at FSB, the proportion of international visitors at our stand was very high at around 80%, but as expected due to the pandemic, it was mainly limited to the European region and Israel. However, the quality of the visitors was very good throughout the overall event.
The number of exhibitors in the playground equipment sector in 2021 was once again significantly lower than in previous years. The combination of playground equipment, stadium equipment and ice maintenance machines in one hall may be understandable from the point of view of the trade fair management, but it was not very attractive for the visitors. Various well-known manufacturers of playground equipment unfortunately stayed away from the fair again. And some visitors told us that they will not visit FSB in the future."
Johannes Maier (Company Eurotramp Trampoline - Kurt Hack GmbH):
"FSB has shown that no digital exchange of information can even come close to replacing the personal trade fair encounter! Eurotramp was very satisfied with the trade attendance and the trade fair organisation under the preconditions of the Covid-19 Pandemic. All our trade fair expectations were exceeded! We were also very positively surprised by the number of foreign trade visitors. The outdoor fitness sector was very popular among many visitors. There was a great desire among many visitors to finally get out of the pandemic mode again. The interest in innovations is extraordinary. “
Markus Schäfers (Company Seilfabrik Ullmann GmbH):
"This year, FSB once again has confirmed its reputation as the leading international trade fair for leisure and playground equipment under difficult Covid-19 pandemic conditions. Around 25 % of the visitors to our stand came from Germany, 75 % were international visitors, mainly from Europe. This year, the almost complete absence of visitors from the Asian region was particularly noticeable.
Both the quality and the number of visitors to our stand far exceeded our expectations. Whether this was due to our newly designed, sensational stand, the fireworks of innovations that we were actually able to present or our massive advertising for the trade fair in the run-up, will remain unanswered.
There could certainly have been a few more visitors if the ticket handling had not been so complicated and error-prone, the reason why some of our customers no longer want to come to this fair in the future.
From our point of view, the Covid-19 management by the fair can only be described as inadequate: During the entire set-up phase, only on the last day proof of compliance with the 3G rule was requested from those setting up, in the days before it seemed as if Covid-19 did not exist at all. And even during the days of the fair, nothing was done to enforce compliance with the Covid-19 safety regulations. Despite all this, we draw an extremely positive conclusion from this year's FSB and are glad to have been there as an exhibitor. For this reason, we can say that we will be happy to be represented again at the next FSB. “
The next aquanale and FSB will take place from 24 to 27 October 2023.
