Interviews with exhibitors at ProWein, International Trade Fair Wines and Spirits, highlight the significant benefits and unique opportunities for U.S. wine and spirit producers to exhibit there and grow international business. This year the show, set to take place March 23 – 25, 2014 in Düsseldorf, Germany, is already sold out – and about 70 U.S. exhibitors will participate.
“The quality of the people who attend the show is absolutely superb. They are all serious buyers and decision makers,” explains Howard Rossbach, President Firesteed Corporation, two-time exhibitor at ProWein.
ProWein also provides an easy to navigate layout that turns a large trade fair into a manageable event, organized to optimize time. The educational seminars take place within the halls, allowing exhibitors the opportunity to attend without missing a beat of working their booth. “The 20 minute snapshots of regions were great, and would always fill up with interested attendees,” states Stephanie Honig, DWS, Honig Vineyard & Winery who participated as part of the Napa Valley Vintners Association booth.
“When it comes to convenience, Düsseldorf rolls out the red carpet,” Rossbach says. “Transportation in and out of both the city and the fairgrounds is great, the hotels are good, and there are not huge lines and waits to get where you need to go. The show is run with an extraordinary degree of efficiency, making it very easy for exhibitors like us to conduct business.”
In order to optimize time both Rossbach and Honig place an emphasis on preparation. Making appointments, setting up meetings and reaching out to contacts beforehand are important aspects in making the most of time at ProWein, and capabilities at www.ProWein.com allow for meetings to be scheduled easily online. The “matchmaking tool” in the “Exhibitors and Products” section of the website offers exhibitors and visitors the opportunity to post their questions and offers online, providing the ability to search for cooperation partners. This allows exhibitors to get in contact with potential new customers before they even arrive at ProWein.
Rossbach continued, “The people who attend are good qualified leads, but you’ll get much better results if you do homework ahead of time, set up appointments and have concise, clear and compelling support materials and messages.”
Most attendees speak English, so language is not a barrier to business and Honig echoed those thoughts, “People were writing business, and making decisions right there. And while that’s obviously important, there’s the added value of meeting new people who you would never get to meet otherwise. An example is our Indian importer. Now that we’ve had the personal connection at ProWein, the relationship is working significantly better.”
Honig added a bit of advice for future exhibitors, “What really impressed me was a simple thing…nice glasses that were perfectly clean. I’d also recommend American exhibitors make sure to set the booth up for a seated meeting. The dynamic changes dramatically in a sit down discussion, versus talking across the display table.”
This year about 4,800 exhibitors and 45,000 trade visitors from around the world are expected to attend ProWein, making it THE meeting place for the international wine sector.
For further information about exhibiting at ProWein 2014, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601. Telephone: (312) 781-5180; Fax: (312) 781-5188; E-mail: [email protected]; Visit our web site http://www.mdna.com; Subscribe to our blog at http://blog.mdna.com; Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/FoodBev_MDNA
For hotel and travel information, contact TTI Travel, Inc. at (866) 674-3476; Fax: (212) 674-3477; E-mail: [email protected]; www.traveltradeint.com
