A+A Sets New Attendance Record
More than 60,000 trade visitors toured the exhibit halls at the Dusseldorf fair grounds during the Oct. 18-21 trade fair. Exhibit square footage also is up 12 percent for the National Safety Council's Congress & Expo two weeks from now.
The two biggest safety trade shows of 2011 began with the Oct. 18 opening of A+A, the International Trade Fair with Congress for Safety and Health at Work, in Dusseldorf, Germany. This show is held in alternate years, and a record 1,600 exhibitors from 54 countries took part.
When the event came to an end, Messe Dusseldorf announced 60,100 trade visitors had participated -- the most in the event's history. (When A+A was held in 2009, 55,800 attended it.) About 25 percent of all visitors this year came from countries outside of Germany, with a significant increase from South and Central American nations, the company reported.
"This result has further confirmed A+A's global status as 'Safety's No. 1.' No other industry event offers such a complete product overview and provides so many impulses for the sector due to the productive exchange between experts," said Joachim Schäfer, managing director of Messe Düsseldorf. Klaus Bornack, chairman of the Trade Fair Advisory Board and managing director at Bornack GmbH & Co. KG, said it was a stellar event. "No costs are spared when it comes to staff health and safety," he said. "High-quality safety products not only provide better protection, they also enjoy greater user acceptance levels, which means they are also in greater demand. The concentrated exchange with customers at A+A also provided valuable input in terms of further product development."
A host of A+A exhibitors were familiar names to U.S. safety professionals, including 3M, MSA, DuPont, Sperian Protection, Drager, Wolverine, Brady, Ansell, Allegro, Moldex-Metric, Lakeland, Elvex, Ergodyne, Red Wing, MCR Safety, Salisbury by Honeywell, Westex, Showa, Kimberly-Clark Professional, Sensear, Justrite, Scott Safety, FabEnCo, TenCate, True North, and Uvex. Dozens of Chinese companies also are exhibiting, combining for 3,200 square meters of space –- third highest behind Germany and Italy.
The International Society for Fall Protection’s 2011 Symposium was held in conjunction with A+A this year.
The next A+A will be in Düsseldorf Nov. 5-8, 2013. For information about visiting or exhibiting at A+A 2013, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Ave., Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601, phone 312-781-5180, fax 312-781-5188, e-mail [email protected], http://www.mdna.com.
Two weeks from now comes the second big event: the National Safety Council's 2011 Congress & Expo in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. As of Friday, Oct. 14, about 850 exhibitors had booked space for the NSC. Exhibitor bookings were 5 percent ahead and exhibit square footage was 12 percent ahead of the amounts booked for the 2010 NSC, said Alex Bahler, marketing coordinator for the council's Conventions and Meetings Department.