What to take in first? Certainly, the sheer size of the exhibit space. Not just two big halls inside, but an outside pavilion just as immense. Having an outdoor exhibit in October in Germany seemed like an iffy proposition to me. Given the nature of GSE, however, the great outdoors is a fitting choice – maybe the only choice for this much variety of equipment. From squat pushbacks to towering deicers to working, full-scale belt loaders, the outdoor pavilion was a great place to learn.
I was told the industry was a bit short on new products. However, I didn’t find that to be the case. I was barely 30 minutes into the show’s first day when I attended a JBT AeroTech press conference introducing four pieces of equipment, including a redesigned B600 making its industry debut. This one certainly had some flair to it with curved wheel wells and a cab that almost looked like any other pickup truck you might see at the local car dealer. Not bad for something that tops out at 15 miles an hour. Throughout that first day I saw new products from Semmco; Douglas; Harlan and Meggitt. Maybe not brand-spanking new in all cases, but new enough for my eyes.
I’ve been to plenty of trade shows in my career equally as enormous as inter airport Europe, but it never ceases to amaze me how much pride product managers take in describing their products. It brings it down to a size anyone can understand. I introduced myself, for example, to one such manager at Unitron and spent the next hour hearing about plans to grow the European market and why the company’s product was a natural to accomplish this. Plenty more people, including the top brass, took the time to extol the virtues of their products to me.
I’ve been limiting myself to 300 words for my blog so I know I’ve hardly scratched the surface of the first day – I was there for three more. But I know I left with a stack of business cards about three inches thick and introduced myself to plenty of helpful people that will point me in the right direction for story ideas. Along the way, I learned some bad Irish jokes, received a picture of me holding up a four-foot long hot dog that I’d rather not discuss, and, finally, took back a lifelong memory of singing along to John Denver’s “Country Roads” – an inexplicably popular German bar song.
