Final Report Orgatec 2018
"International, emotional, creative"

Last Saturday, October 27, Orgatec came to an end after five days - and Koelnmesse's trade fair organizers are more than satisfied in their official final report.

"The Orgatec 2018 impressively demonstrated how top international trade fairs successfully position themselves: it has emotionally processed relevant topics and provided new, creative impulses to a whole industry," said literally. "Orgatec has successfully completed the transition from a pure product show to a themed business event," says Koelnmesse CEO Katharina C. Hamma. "With the first-class event and congress program, Orgatec has succeeded in anchoring the socio-political significance of modern working worlds with the decision-makers," continues Hamma. The new concept was very well received by trade visitors. With more than 63,000 trade visitors, the Orgatec 2018 recorded a visitor increase of more than 15%.

Hendrik Hund, chairman of the IBA, Industrieverband Büro und Arbeitswelt eV, praised the varied and creative appearance of the industry: "The wealth of ideas and the variety with which the companies at this Orgatec took up the guiding theme of the fair - the future of work - was impressive ", So dog. "The industry has shown that it is well prepared for the current challenges of modern work environments with its solutions and offers. And the many national and international top decision-makers at the stands have also rewarded this. And with Orgatec as a creative think tank, we have the perfect venue for a great event. "

The trade visitors of Orgatec: international, competent and young

The exhibitors at Orgatec all praised the high quality of the trade visitors. Special mention was also made of the fact that significantly more users with high decision-making authority as well as representatives of the real estate industry use the fair to find out about the offers of the exhibitors. The Orgatec 2018 was also convincing in terms of internationality. On the visitor side, the number of countries represented rose from 118 to 142. Overall, significantly more visitors from abroad came to Cologne for the leading international trade fair for modern working environments. The share of trade visitors from North America (+ 42%), Central and South America (+ 42%) and EU countries (+ 33%) rose particularly sharply. The number of visitors from Japan (+ 22%) and India (+ 44%) also increased. Almost twice as many visitors came from Eastern Europe to the Orgatec 2018. In addition to the significantly increased internationality, the exhibitors praised the very high decision-making authority and, in particular, the large proportion of young people among trade visitors.

Congress and event program at the highest level

The fact that emotional elements must not be neglected in an international top trading platform such as Orgatec has been convincingly demonstrated by Orgatec's current event and congress program. Trade visitors and exhibitors alike were impressed by the choice of topics and the content of the offers. With first-class congresses such as the Xing New Work Sessions and the ZEIT Conference Work & Style, a young trade audience and key decision-makers were reached. At the same time, the fair has been able to identify relevant topics, charge it emotionally and thus provide the industry with new creative impulses. Event offerings such as PLANT 10.1, WORK TO GO or Inspired Collaborations have picked up on key industry topics in some spectacular ways.

Exhibitors show holistic concepts for modern working environments

The dominant themes of the trade fair were, in addition to the continuing digitization of the industry, the trend towards flexible solutions that respond quickly and easily to individual needs. In doing so, the companies do not limit themselves to individual solutions with their products, but instead rely on holistic concepts. Today's work environments must be flexible in their use: from the quiet environment for concentrated work, to meetings, to use as a creative space. Many exhibitors presented solutions that also focused on the topic of health promotion and ergonomics. Another aspect of the product conceptions were solutions for the intuitive use of technology and the importance of acoustic systems, which can be used in a variety of ways.

The Orgatec 2018 in numbers

At Orgatec 2018, 753 companies from 39 countries participated (2016: 664 companies from 40 countries). Among them were 187 exhibitors from Germany (2016: 179 exhibitors) and 566 companies (2016: 485 companies) - and thus 75% (2016: 73%) from abroad. Including estimates for the last day of the fair, more than 63,000 trade visitors from 142 countries attended Orgatec 2018 (2016: 54,946 trade visitors from 118 countries).

The next Orgatec - The Leading International Trade Fair for Modern Working Worlds - will take place from 27 to 31 October 2020.

A detailed report on Orgatec can be found in the November issue of MÖBELMARKT.