Auma 10th anniversary

Official ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of AUMA. German Federal President Koehler: "Take advantage of the economic revival to continue the reform policy"

Trade fairs have contributed to Germany’s cosmopolitanism. Trade fair association celebrated its anniversary on 7th May 2007 with around 650 guests in Berlin

The strong revival in the economy offers the opportunity to permanently strengthen the position of Germany in the international competition for jobs and creation of value. That calls for a continuation of the policy of reform.

That was the message from Federal President Horst Koehler at the official ceremony to mark the one-hundredth anniversary of AUMA – the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry on 7th May 2007 in Berlin.

According to Koehler, the process of globalization has provided Germany with clear benefits in terms of prosperity, not only as a result of increasing exports, but also because consumers get more for their money as a result of cheaper imports. He said that the positive effects of globalization could be increased still further, for example, through a successful conclusion of the negotiations within the World Trade Organisation which have been continuing since the Conference of the Ministers of Economics and Trade in Doha 2001. A successful conclusion would be of benefit to everyone – it would provide the developing and threshold nations with better marketing opportunities for their agri-cultural products, the industrial nations with greater legal certainty for their product ideas and everyone would benefit from of a genuine reduction in the many trade barriers.

Trade fairs boost German exports
He said that the trade fairs have not only made a significant contribution to the success of Germany as the export world champion, but also to the cosmopolitan character of the country. The success of the trade fairs proves that Germany can be an outstanding host and is able to offer an exemplary international service. Koehler emphasized that Germany continues to be the leading location worldwide for international trade fairs.

He went on to say that German trade fairs have also become export successes in themselves. The trade fair organizers already successfully conduct more than 200 trade fairs abroad.

Trade fairs must, however, remain places at which one can invest with confidence. It is important, therefore, to ensure that the protection of confidence is maintained, for example, protection against product pirates who simply take advantage of the presentations of their competitors in order to take their ideas and later to offer them for sale as copies.

Addressing the trade fair companies, the Federal President asked that they provide more information about the importance and successes of the trade fair industry in schools, colleges and universities, but also at events organized by political and social groups, because trade fairs demonstrated directly just what opportunities technological progress offered and how international the position of the German industry is.

The Federal President expressed his thanks to AUMA for its efforts over what is now one hundred years, aimed at ensuring market transparency and fair competition within the industry. He said that it has thus made a vital contribution to the worldwide success of the German trade fair industry.

Trade fairs remain unique even in the online age
The chairman of AUMA, Thomas H. Hagen, welcomed around 650 guests from politics, the diplomatic corps, exhibiting and visiting sectors of industry, trade fair companies, service companies and the media.

He emphasized that despite the wide proliferation of the Internet, trade fairs continue to have a stable and leading position in the business-to-business communication of German companies. After all, trade fairs facilitate direct, personal communication; they convey emotions and make an appeal to all the senses. That makes trade fairs unique even in the online age.

The German trade fair industry, according to Hagen, is a really important overall economic factor: exhibitors and visitors annually invest around 10 billion Euro in their trade fair participations. He said that the total production effect for the German economy as a whole amounts to around 23 billion Euro. 250,000 jobs are dependent upon the trade fairs. Furthermore, trade fairs are the driving force for German exports - because each year over 2 million international buyers visit the German trade fairs.

Cooperation and competition are key concepts for industry
The AUMA chairman: “The decisive concepts for trade fair success, in my opinion, are cooperation and competition aimed at increasing customer satisfaction - cooperation between the trade fair companies with the participating industries, also with other organizers at home and abroad, but also competition for the best concepts, the best technology, the best service”. However, anyone who affirms competition must know that functioning competition always presupposes the will to enter a productive discussion and a readiness to adapt.

He went on to say that for over 100 years AUMA has succeeded in playing the role of a moderator in the field of tension that results from cooperation and competition – following its foundation on 1st January 1907, initially as the representative of the industrial exhibitors, later as the representative of all trade fair customers and, as of 1956, as the umbrella organization of the industry including the trade fair organizers and later also the service companies.

Framework conditions for future trade fair success
In order that the success of the German trade fair industry can also be secured in future, Hagen appealed to the industry to take into account, in competition with each other, the fact that the most important competitors of the international trade fairs in Germany are often not located 100 km away, but rather in other countries or on other continents. The real competitors are often even other communication platforms or marketing instruments.

Exhibitors and visitors should continue to take a critical look at who in the long run offers the best service, whether in a comparison of the trade fairs with each other or in competition with the other channels which address the customers. According to Hagen: “Today, it is often the instant success and the immediate price advantage which counts. I have my doubts whether this is always the right direction in the long term”.

Hagen emphasized that also for future trade fair success there will still be a need for cooperation and competition: “Anyone who wants to make successful trade fairs needs the challenge of competition, but he also requires a basic agreement between various partners. And, if a trade fair country as a whole wants to be successful, it also needs basic agreement between all the protagonists”.

Currently, 41 trade fair organizers and 41 associations which represent the exhibiting and visiting sections of industry as well as the service companies are members of AUMA. The most important tasks of AUMA are the representation of the interests of the entire industry in dealings with the government and parliament, marketing for German trade fairs at home and abroad, the coordination of the foreign trade fair programme of the Federal Ministry of Economics, the provision of information for exhibitors and visitors from Germany and abroad as well as research and the support of education and further training.

AUMA is one of the oldest German associations of the service industry. On 1st January 1907, the then Permanent Exhibition Committee of German Industry started to operate in Berlin as the representative of the interests of the industrial exhibitors. In 1927, the organization was converted into the - privately-owned - German Exhibition and Trade Fair Office and extended to cover all trade fair customers, in other words, also including exhibitors from outside industry and to the buying side. It has been known as the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry since 1934. In 1949, AUMA was re-founded in the structure of 1927, in other words as the representative of the interests of the exhibitors and visitors. As of 1956, the trade fair companies also became members. Thus, AUMA is today the umbrella organization of the entire industry.