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CONNECTIONS
ARE IN OUR
DNA

THE ART OF CREATING
ROBUST CONNECTIONS.

IN CONVERSATION WITH Hans Bruder.

Hans Staeger, the founder of OCTANORM.

A VISIONARY ENTREPRENEUR

HE SHARED THE ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE OF SWABIA.

Paul Kerschbaumer about Hans Staeger

WELCOME TO OSPI

It was long before other companies had even started to consider issues such as sustainability and globalization that here in Filderstadt we were working on specific solutions. The result was the setting up of OSPI as the world's largest global trade fair construction network. The abbreviation is short for OCTANORM Service Partner International. Now OSPI links 140 partners in 40 countries around the world. The idea behind the network is to be able to undertake planning across national boundaries based on the motto: "Hier gedacht, dort gemacht." ("Designed here, built there.") No matter where a trade fair stand is designed, the client can rely on his plans being implemented right down to the minutest detail on the other side of the world. And on it being done with OCTANORM's country-specific know-how and original system components. That's because they are available locally, which saves a huge amount of logistical expenditure that transportation would otherwise involve. Over the years the OSPI network has grown into a real family. And it gets together on a regular basis at a wide range of different trade fair sites around the world. The 17th OSPI meeting was held in South Africa in December 2018, and it had a record attendance with 219 participants from 37 countries taking part.

TOPIC: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

What does CSR stand for?

Corporate Social Responsibility stands for social responsibility within companies. This is about companies acting responsibly and voluntarily making contributions which go beyond the statutory requirements and rules. This applies both to ecological issues and to cooperation with their staff and other firms. In France companies with a workforce of more than 500 employees and a turnover of over 40 million euros are obliged to get involved in this process. Although OCTANORM France is not a company of that size, CSR is an important issue for us. In the interview Jean-Michel Lemarchand explains how OC France can make the trade fair construction business more sustainable.

Jean-Michel, what are trade fairs like in France today?

At French trade fairs one mainly sees "traditional stands" at the moment, i.e. stands which are only used once at one single trade fair. The substructure and the visible parts of a stand are made of wood. After the trade fair all the materials making up the stand are disposed of as waste. That's despite the fact that recycling/reuse options have been available for some time now. The exhibitor can hire wall units for his stand at the trade fair itself. This already available material is called "Installation Générale" in France. However, exhibitors who have an adequate budget don't make use of the facility. They prefer to have the entire stand built to order by their trade fair stand builder or stand designer. And in France a modular system is still viewed as being synonymous with the unloved "Installation Générale". However, thanks to CSR, the situation is moving in the right direction. The exhibitors now have a reason for specifying the modularity of their trade fair stand in their CSR report.

Is the focus of planning and design on the company or on the environment – and where is there the most urgent need for action?

The companies are free to set their own priorities. It makes sense for the companies which prioritize environmental issues to publicize their efforts. At the same time, the ministry responsible for the energy transition is looking for ways to greatly reduce the amount of waste that is thrown away once a trade fair ends. Limiting the volume of waste for all the exhibitors is an idea that's currently being discussed. No decision has been reached as yet. However consideration is currently being given to introducing a 20% limit as from 2025 on the total amount of wood used that exhibitors can throw away after a trade fair, together with a total ban on the disposal of plastics. So it's high time that we started to think about how stands should be planned in future. The concept of single-use stands that are simply thrown away afterwards should finally be obsolete. The use of environmentally friendly modular stands could soon be obligatory for exhibitors.

There are regular alarming news items about CO2emissions. Can CSR and OCTANORM make a contribution to reducing emissions?

In the trade fair sector OCTANORM's modular system clearly represents a significant improvement from an environmental point of view. A reduced volume of waste automatically means reduced CO2 emissions. In relation to CO2 emissions, our global OSPI network also provides a unique advantage. The builders of trade fair stands simply use the OCTANORM materials which are already available at the place where the trade fair is to be held. Only the design itself has to travel around the world.

Can CSR provide benefits for companies?

The ministry that is responsible for the energy transition wants the CSR report to be used by exhibitors in order to clearly show the public what their environmental policies are. If it shows that they are acting in an environmentally responsible manner this will enhance their image – and provide an advantage compared to any competitors who don't yet do so.

Is there also opposition to this?

Yes, in France the builders of trade fair stands, especially their design departments, felt that their creativity would be stifled by the modular system. Our task is now to show designers that they can design customized stands by using our OCTANORM systems – fully in accordance with the wishes of each customer. The carpenters who are frequently used for the assembly works may however be against the modular system. That's because it means them spending less on assembly, and not being able to charge for as much wood. However, as our systems can easily be clad in wood and are used as a substructure, they're also meant for carpenters. And this is how people really like things to be done in France.

Are you committed to the environment and the company in your private life too?

We don't have to draw up a CSR report ourselves, we're too small for that. We still "do our bit" – for instance our employees avoid using cars within the Paris metropolitan area whenever they can, something that applies to car use for private purposes as well as to our work for OCTANORM.

„ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, MODULAR
STANDS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME
MANDATORY BEFORE LONG.“

Jean-Michel Lemarchand

OCTANORM
GOES
EUROSHOP

A SOFTWARE PACKAGE
MAKES HISTORY:
OCTACAD

TOPIC: HOW DIGITIZATION IS CHANGING THE TRADE FAIR WORLD

Nic Staeger, what will OCTANORM's business look like when the next generation of the founding family takes over?

In order to see what the future holds it helps to take a look back at the past. Why has OCTANORM been successful for 50 years? Above all because it has enabled millions of people to meet up, and to exchange ideas and to network. And to do so face-to-face. The need to create personal contacts will still be with us for the next ten or twenty years, it's a basic need which everyone feels, and that won't change. Nevertheless, the way in which people meet up may change.
I see two fundamental developments in today's megatrends. Firstly there's a new type of consumer behaviour, and secondly there are new technologies. Both will result in radical changes, and recent examples of this are the music industry and e-commerce. We have to bear these developments in mind when thinking about the future. We will need more personalized solutions. The necessary resources for this are provided to us virtually "on a plate" when people leave their details online. Nowadays one is provided with data fairly easily even in the real world. So it's not expensive to make the "internet of things" a focus of one's attention. This will also have implications for OCTANORM. We'll have to find ways of getting to know our customers' customers better, and finding out about their needs – before they actually have them.
OCTANORM will develop into a service provider for its customers whenever it's possible to do so; we could provide solutions which would enable the movements of everyone attending a trade fair to be tracked at any time. From today's perspective that may sound a bit scary, but in the not-too-distant future it will be a matter of course. So at the end of a trade fair, you would get much more reliable data. Whether a trade fair was successful is something that you can only measure at the moment by looking at the number of leads or business cards that are swapped – but in future we'll know exactly which products and services the visitors have actually found interesting.

What will the products and services offered by OCTANORM have to look like in future?

OCTANORM will be able to offer its customers much more than a trade fair stand and the necessary equipment for it. To do this it's crucial for OCTANORM to fully understand how visitors to trade fairs act. And this has changed considerably over the last ten years. We initially have to investigate three phases: prior to the trade fair, during the trade fair, and after the trade fair. We have to find out in advance: Where is the decision to visit the trade fair made? When do the visitors themselves decide that they will be attending, and why? At the trade fair itself we need to ascertain: Why do visitors go to a specific stand, and why do they spend time there? Have the staff at the trade fair stand responded to visitors' needs? After the trade fair: What questions may people who attended the trade fair still have? How should the next "call to action" be made? In future, OCTANORM will accompany visitors throughout their journey.

How will trade fairs change?

Nowadays people often attend smaller events which are devoted to very select groups of visitors. The reason for this is that we can establish links with very well defined target groups long before we have actually got to know the people concerned. Of course this also changes the requirements in terms of the presentation of products and solutions – they have to be more event-focused. The level of financial resources which companies will devote to personal meetings will stay the same, but the overall context will alter. So we won't just see new products which meet the changed requirements, we'll also adopt new approaches to logistics and production which will make tailor-made solutions possible. For example, in the case of 3D printing, CNC and "last mile logistics". A current megatrend is precisely the fact that people prefer to buy things online. In Sweden, the country that I live in, 16% of all products are bought online. This threatens to cause the closure of shopping malls and stores. On the other hand, the area used for restaurants and other food outlets in the malls has doubled over the last five years. Evidently people want to meet up, but they don't necessarily want to go shopping. I think that malls which are in attractive locations will increasingly turn into market places where people meet and exchange ideas. And new solutions will be needed for them.

What impacts is digitization already having on the trade fair business?

I think the biggest change is that one can establish close links with current and future customers without meeting them in person. What people actually look for at trade fairs is trust. You trust someone better if you've had a conversation or a meal with him/her than someone you've never met. Digitization has changed the numbers of visitors who only come to see a new cool feature or to do a bit of research. For the modern generation everything is just a Google search away. So digitization will make it possible for the "right" people to come to trade fairs, the people whose trust you would like to gain and whom you want to make more loyal to your brand, products and solutions. And this process must begin well before the trade fair, and it must continue long afterwards.

Will it still actually be necessary to travel to a trade fair in future, or will visits tend to be more virtual?

That's the crucial question. In the internet people are working right now on creating solutions which build trust with the minimum possible amount of human interaction. In this field there are various brands which are not merely synonymous with an outstanding product but which also stand for excellent service and superbly automated communication. However, there are also providers which only operate with certificates so that they can prove that they are trustworthy. Buzzwords in this area are: "Trusted Shops" and eco-labels. At the same time, there are technologies which are structured in such a way that people can trust them without anyone vouching for them – the much discussed blockchains. The various developments simultaneously demonstrate the lack of confidence and trust that still exists online. And this can problem only be overcome if trust is based on personal contacts. I still consider this trust to be essential, so I'm sure that: Trade fairs will not die out owing to the development of virtual technologies. The need to have real meetings with other people will endure for a long time to come.

„We have to know what our
customers' needs are before they
actually have them.“

Nic Staeger

Tel.:	+48 22 773 03 50
Fax:	+48 22 773 03 51
E-mail:	info@octanorm.pl
Web:	www.octanorm.pl

CONNECTIONS ARE IN OUR DNA

THE ART OF CREATING ROBUST CONNECTIONS.