Coatings World - April 2013

Attendees, Exhibitors Enjoy Successful

2013 European Coatings Show

Bridget Klebaur, Associate Editor

As the three-day European Coatings Show (ECS) and Congress drew to a close in Nürnberg, Germany on March 21, 2013, attendees and exhibitors alike found the show to be a success.

According to NürnbergMesse and Vincentz Network, the organizers of the show, approximately 26,000 attendees and 962 exhibitors visited the show. The congress also drew well, as more than 650 attendees listened in on the 144 presentations.

Exhibitors that Coatings World talked to at the show generally said the show went well. Michael O’Brien, general sales manager, Halox, explained that because of this year’s extended Congress, the show started off slowly, although it progressed by the second day.

“When you have so many formulators that are in the congress during the first day, it takes away the amount of formulators you get to your booth the first day,” O’Brien noted. “They pay a lot of money to go to the congress, so it doesn’t bother me that they spend a lot of time there. I would, too, if I spent $1,000 a day to go, but when you spend a lot of money on your stand, you want the traffic to be all three days. So the second and third days are usually the best for us,” O’Brien said.

Compared to the 2011 show, O’Brien explained that despite the slowing down of the market, this year’s show seemed to be about the same as the last ECS.