THOSE who thought it was only us Brits who are ever capable of shooting ourselves in the foot on an international scale, will no doubt crack a wry smile at the shenanigans going on in Germany.
Many readers will remember and lament the demise of some of our highly successful exhibitions in the past. I refer in particular to HEVAC and the London H&V Shows, which although never truly “international” teetered on the brink of achieving this status. That they never did, and eventually dwindled away was down to a number of factors, not least of which was the loss of a coherent focus for the shows. At a time when the visitor base was questioning the value of exhibitions, the exhibitors couldn’t agree when, where and how many times a year they wanted the exhibition and the organisers were changing the names of the shows so many times they lost their identity.

Now the indutsry’s main international showcase – IKK – looks to be on the point of self-destruction.

As revealed last month, a split between show owners, the German contractors’ association VDKF, the exhibition organisers and some of the exhibitors threaten the future of an exhibition which had experienced impressive year-on-year growth during the 90s.

Unable to agree a new contract with Nurnberger Messe, the VDKF has gone off in a strop and taken its “ball” to Stuttgart where the show will now be based on a biennial basis starting in 2008. In the interim years, starting in 2007, IKK will become part of the ISH Aircontec show in Frankfurt, a decision which could potentially see it sink without trace, as happened when our H&V show was “co-located” with Interbuild. In addition, ISH Aircontec takes place in March 2007, less than five months after this month’s Nuremberg event.

Meanwhile, a group of exhibitors who in recent years had been lobbying to make IKK a biennial event (as happened in the UK – another case of the sulky “we do not want/can’t afford to exhibit every year and would prefer if no one else did either or it will make us look bad” approach to marketing) has announced its own show. Called Chillventa, it will be held on a biennial basis in the traditional IKK slot in Nuremberg starting in 2008 from 15-18 October. Incredibly, the VDKF has now announced that its 2008 IKK show in Stuttgart will be held from October 8-10, the week before Chillventa.

So, from a position where sections of the industry were calling for IKK to be every two years, we now have a situation where the industry is faced with two shows in the same year.

This is an absolute farce which can only have a detrimental effect on this industry. Like squabbling kids, some of these people need their heads banging together.

The organisers of Milan’s Mostra Convegno and Madrid’s Climatizacion must be laughing all the way to the European bank.

Neil Everitt

Editor