SHOWTECH 2009 Final Report
- Trade show clearly exceeds expectations
- Industry benefits from the Federal Government’s second economic stimulus package
The order situation in the event technology and equipment market is good, prospects are bright – this is the conclusion to be drawn from SHOWTECH 2009. The trade show finished with a marked increase in visitor numbers, a total of 7,815 visitors (up 6 percent from the previous event) came to Berlin from 16 to 18 June. With this result the International Trade Show and Conference for Event Technology and Services exceeded expectations and continued its growth course of the past few years.
“SHOWTECH further consolidated its position as the internationally leading meeting place for the industries it serves. Against the general economic background this is a clear signal“, declared Hans-Joachim Erbel, Managing Director of SHOWTECH organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH. But this year’s trade show also revealed: the mood in the industry is positive.
The Federal Government’s economic stimulus package is working
A survey conducted among the exhibitors at SHOWTECH showed: 60 percent of the exhibitors consider medium term business perspectives in their industry to be good or even very good. Exhibitors also feel the effects of the economic stimulus packages. “At SHOWTECH there is no sign of the economic crisis. The funding provided by the Federal Government’s stimulus package is paying off“, reports Philipp Mero of Waagner-Biro. Cornelia Freimüller of SBS Bühnentechnik also confirms good prospects for the immediate future: “The order situation in our industry is good. In the German business, funding also seems to have come through from the government’s economic stimulus package.“
A representative survey among the visitors also yielded an optimistic picture. The large majority (74 %) of those surveyed expected the future situation in their industry to remain stable or possibly improve. 48 percent also expected impulses from the stimulus package, especially from the opera, theatre and festival hall sectors. And the demand on the part of these establishments is considerable. “The artistic drive to put a production on stage is unaffected by the crisis“, says Hubert Eckart, Managing Director of Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft e.V. (DTHG), SHOWTECH‘s institutional patron.
Meeting place for the pros
350 exhibitors from 23 countries showed their innovations from the fields of stage, lighting and event technology in Berlin. This year, SHOWTECH succeeded in growing in the segments of events and event services as well as in the equipment and décor sectors.
With a 98 percent share of trade visitors, SHOWTECH remains the meeting place for the event industry’s pros. Especially decision-makers from the technical and artistic side (85 %) came to Berlin. More than 40 percent of the visitors came from the theatre, opera house, concert and festival hall sectors. “For us SHOWTECH is the most important trade show in Europe. There is no other show where the stage technology segment is so strongly represented“, says Robert Heimbach from the Canadian exhibitor Gala Systems. This year, SHOWTECH also recorded an increase in the event organiser and agency segment which made up the second largest visitor group at SHOWTECH.
Visitors travelled to Berlin from 40 countries. SHOWTECH recorded the biggest visitor increase from the Eastern European states, the Baltic countries and Scandinavia.
A look into the future of event technology
SHOWTECH 2009 is also a result of the strong partnership with Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft (DTHG) as the institutional patron of the show. 
“SHOWTECH is our big distributor fair for the entire theatre and event technology segment“, says DTHG President Karl-Heinz Mittelstädt.
The topics of the DTHG Conference accompanying the show this year looked at the future of event technology in the 21st century, the focus was on topics such as the future of radio frequencies or innovations in light and set design. Another successful event was the Costume-Makers Symposium, which was held as part of SHOWTECH for the second time already and attracted some 250 costume designers, wardrobe masters, tailors, milliners, shoemakers and stage masters to Berlin.
With the EVENT3 Forum and a larger range of products and services in the equipment and décor segment on exhibition, the show provided a large number of attractions this year. The Safety Action Stage had its premiere and was particularly well received. Here SHOWTECH visitors could watch full days of live demonstrations covering issues of event safety – from a sample rescue from the truss to fire protection on stage.
Last but not least, SHOWTECH 2009 benefited from the twinning of trade shows with stb international. The trend fair of the German event industry was held parallel to SHOWTECH at the Berlin Exhibition Centre from 16 to 17 June.
SHOWTECH PRODUCT AWARD distinguished innovations
Higher safety standards, improved energy efficiency, flexible applications: for the fourth time already, the best innovations of the show were granted the SHOWTECH PRODUCT AWARD. The expert jury chose three winners, the prizes were presented during SHOWTECH NIGHT on 17 June. In the stage technology segment Gala Systems (Canada) convinced the jury with its “Self Guided Spiralift I-Lock LD 250“. Beleuchtungstechnik Bühnentechnik Schenk was awarded the prize in the lighting and projection technology segment for its “Eliminator“ wide-angle spotlight. In the event technology and services category the award went to Suitestuff for its “CU“ room divider series. (Please find more information here)
The next SHOWTECH will take place from 7 to 9 June 2011 in Berlin.
Exhibitors’ comments:
“As a trade show, SHOWTECH offers a meeting place for people and views for which the Internet as a means of communication is no subsitute. The visitors, most of whom came from our target groups theatre, event venues and television companies were outstanding in their purchasing quality and competence. Our order situation continues stable.“
Ralph-Jörg Wezorke, Managing Director, Lightpower GmbH
“At SHOWTECH we saw a very high number of visitors at our stand. There was hardly any waste coverage, instead we had a specialist audience who knew exactly what they wanted. Visitors were looking to make a concrete purchasing decision. We were equally satisfied with the international quality of our trade show contacts.“
Rosi Marx, Marketing, European P&A Manager, Electronic Theatre Controls GmbH
“SHOWTECH 2009 was a great success for us. We had a much larger number of international visitors at our stand, especially from Russia and the Baltic countries. The order situation in our industry is good. In the German business, funding also seems to have come through from the government’s economic stimulus package.“
Cornelia Freimüller, Marketing, SBS Bühnentechnik GmbH
“SHOWTECH is our big distributor fair for the entire theatre and event technology segment. The important point is that everybody is present here.“
Karl-Heinz Mittelstädt, President, Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft e.V. (DTHG)
”SHOWTECH is a unique combination of technology, craft and art. The artistic drive to put a production on stage is unaffected by the crisis.“
Hubert Eckart, Managing Director, Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft e.V. (DTHG)
”The second Costume-Makers Symposium took a very successful course. We were able to establish the symposium as a forum at SHOWTECH.“
Werner Pick, Costume Director, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Initiator of the Costume Makers’ Symposium
”Already the first two SHOWTECH days were top. You couldn’t expect more.“
Olaf Klinger, Manager Stage Technology Division, Ewert Ahrensburg Electronic GmbH
”For us SHOWTECH is the most important trade show in Europe. There is no other show where the stage technology segment is so strongly represented. For us the trade show went very well. There were big crowds at our stand, not least because we participated in the SHOWTECH PRODUCT AWARD.“
Robert Heimbach, Vice President, Business Development Gala Systems
“At SHOWTECH there is no sign of the economic crisis. The funding provided by the Federal Government’s stimulus package is paying off. The positive effect is mostly felt by small and medium-sized theatres. The big rush on our stand has surprised us. It far exceeds our expectations. Especially in times of crisis it is important to present yourself at a trade show.“
Philipp Mero, Head of Maintenance & Service, Waagner-Biro Austria Stage Systems AG
“Defying all the prophesies of gloom, SHOWTECH 2009 took a very gratifying course for us, both in terms of acquiring new customers and of deepening existing business contacts. In spite of the present economic situation, we are confident for the future, particularly concerning the theatre sector.“
Sabine Siller, Marketing C.Adolph & RST Distribution GmbH
“With the support of the funding from the Federal Ministry for Economics for young and innovative companies we are happy to take part for the second time already in SHOWTECH. Once again, we had specific inquiries at our stand this year, but also walk-in customers which meant we could make new contacts. Visitor quality was high. Customers who came to us were primarily from event technology, theatres, planning agencies and event centres.“
Jens Müller, Managing Director, mediaengineer Ingenierbüro für CAD und technische Planungen
“For us the course of the trade show was characterised by a large number of intensive and positive discussions with potential customers. The crisis is not really an issue at SHOWTECH. People are looking quite hopefully towards the future. We will certainly come back.“
Volker Kirsch, Head of Sales & Engineering Bühnentechnik Rexroth Bosch Group
SHOWTECH 2009 Final Report [PDF | 116 KB]
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