Spirits were buoyant from day one among the approximately 300 exhibitors who appeared at O&S 2016 at the Stuttgart exhibition center, in halls 7 and 9. Visitors came in droves on opening day, bringing queries about specific applications as well as concrete investment plans. A large percentage of attendees came from outside Germany. And the second and third day of the show were equally impressive, resulting in an overwhelmingly upbeat mood among exhibitors at the closing bell. On Thursday, another successful edition of O&S came to a close, tallying more than 6,500 visitors overall.

O&S 2016 exceeded their expectations

"For a lot of people, O&S 2016 exceeded their expectations," commented Olaf Daebler, Director of O&S at Deutsche Messe. "We are delighted that our efforts to promote attendance from abroad bore fruit. O&S has become a recognized networking hub for the international surface technology community – one which attracts users from around the globe." A little more than 50% of international O&S visitors came from an EU country. Roughly a third of all international visitors came from European countries outside the EU. And Asian visitors weighed in with a share of seven percent.

But O&S scored on more than just the quantity and international character of its visitors – the quality of visitors was also high: "O&S went very well for us and was definitely worth our while," reported Jörn Selent, Head of Global Sales Industry at Dörken MKS. "We met with a 100% specialist audience at the event, with many of them coming from top echelons – exactly what our company requires. We had guests from across Europe at our stand, but also from countries we weren’t necessarily expecting, such as Israel, Egypt or Bulgaria. The bottom line was that we were successful in reaching both existing and new customers at this compact trade fair," he concluded. Numerous exhibitors had a similarly positive take on the quality of the tradeshow audience. And the findings of the visitor survey backed up this perception, as the ratio of trade visitors – at 99 % – was just short of a perfect score. Of these, the majority were even decision-makers, with 83% reporting playing either a consultative or authoritative role in their companies’ decision-making processes. The percentage from top management was 28%. A further positive aspect for O&S exhibitors consisted of visitors’ purchasing mindset, as 30% traveled to the event with firm purchasing intent, while a further 50% attended to finalize their investment plans at the show.

O&S covers all areas of surface technology

O&S covers all areas of surface technology, with electroplating representing a key local industry. Even before O&S opened its gates, all signs were positive for the electroplating part of the show. Featuring 77 participating firms, the “World of Surface Treatment” staged by the Central Association of Surface Technology (ZVO) experienced strong growth compared with the previous edition in 2014. Strong visitor demand ensured a correspondingly positive mood at the exhibitors’ stands. "We were extremely satisfied," reported Christoph Matheis, President of ZVO. "The quality and quantity of visitors was superb – in the ‘World of Surface Treatment’ things were really abuzz and we were able to gage the high level of exhibitor satisfaction in the feedback from our co-exhibitors. We were moreover delighted by the much stronger international visitor component. The original designation of O&S as a ‘domestic fair’ is no longer valid. Also from the association’s point of view, O&S was a solid success. We signed up corporations as new members here in Stuttgart, and other firms will soon follow suit. In sum, this year’s O&S was one of the best ever."

After Show Report