I have been going to the big German shows for 30 years – Cebit, Drupa, Paperworld and of course Photokina.
The efficiency of these shows with hundreds of thousands of visitors is always remarkable. But last week I had a big disappointment.
I run a couple of web businesses aimed at the professional and serious amateur photographer – www.opusalbums.com for photo albums, paper and album software etc and www.photo4.biz for software of a more general graphics nature. I wanted to find a lot more products.
Usually there is a catalogue with a very good cross reference of products and stands. The is backed up by a series of kiosks and terminals where you could select your subject of interest and be presented with an optimised route round the show. But this time there was a catalogue that listed little more than the names and addresses of exhibitors. About 25% had some product classification information – and then only one class.
The result – a lot of wasted time. I got through two halls out of 14 in three days. Yes, I masde some worthwhile deals. How much more productive could this visit have been!
Daniel Roberts
www.opusalbums.com
Rochester
England
