Restart with “Best of Events” 2010 in Dortmund

Trade Fair for Live Marketing and Event Services will take place on the premises of the Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund on January 20 and 21, 2010

Revised area concept and a more attractive offer for exhibitors and visitors; growth opportunities and ideal surroundings were the decisive factor for choosing Dortmund as new location; leading exhibitors support the removal of the trade fair; Dortmund and the Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 promote the creative industry, which includes the events industry

April 2, 2009 – At the end of last week, CC Corporate Communications GmbH, located in Norderstedt near the city of Hamburg, and Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund GmbH concluded a contract stipulating the realisation of the international trade fair “Best of Events”. Both companies announced their cooperation during a press conference in Dortmund today. The first “Best of Events“ (BoE) will be held on the premises of the Messe Westfallenhallen from January 20 to January 21, 2010. The entire service industry around conferences, event services and live marketing will use the two-day trade fair to present its services. Exhibitors will be companies offering furniture, catering, marquee and technology services for events, but also hotels, halls and special locations presenting their individual events. The BoE’s spectrum will be complemented by exhibitors operating in the fields of event management, design and planning, as well as further education. In addition, inter-trade organisations and trade media will also be represented.

“Compared to our former trade fair ’World of Events’, the new location in Dortmund will allow us to provide our exhibitors with a revised area concept, as well as a more attractive offer”, says Beate Nöhre, a representative of CC Corporate Communications, the organising company of the BoE. “Trade visitors will also benefit from our enhanced trade fair concept, as the new location, the Messe Westfalenhallen, will allow us to arrange the exhibition more clearly.” This year’s version of the international trade fair, which was held in Wiesbaden as in previous years, attracted more than 8,500 visitors and 430 exhibitors. The increasingly strong interest that visitors, as well as exhibitors have expressed in the trade fair for several years made the recent removal to Dortmund necessary. “The strongest argument in favour of the Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund as our new location was the organisation of the nine halls, further growth opportunities, attractive surroundings in the midst of the Ruhr area, as well as the fact that more than one third of the exhibitors and many prospective visitors live in the surrounding area”, explains Beate Nöhre.

“Our fairground offers everything that the ‘Best of Events’ needs to further develop successfully,” says Stefan Bauman, Managing Director of Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund GmbH. He adds that the company has recently invested in a state-of-the-art data network and a digital visitor information system. “These innovations are complemented by ideal surroundings. Within a radius of 150 kilometres (approx. 93 miles), Dortmund has a catchment area of an astounding number of 20 million people.” According to surveys conducted by the trade fair corporation and media research agencies, Dortmund is considered as a trade fair location featuring comparatively favourable costs with regard to hotels, taxis, as well as bars and restaurants. “Both exhibitors and visitors will profit”, adds Stefan Baumann. The Great Westfalenhalle is a highly symbolic hallmark of the Westfalenhalen group of companies and one of Germany’s most established sports, concerts and event halls.

Attractive fairground for a growth industry

Due to its spectrum of exhibitors and strong visitor interest, the “Best of Events” is considered to be one of the leading trade fairs in Europe and has advanced during the last decade to become the leading trade fair for the service industry around conferences and live communications. This sector stands for annual sales amounting to nearly 15 billion euros: in Germany alone, companies spent approximately 2.5 billion euros on marketing events in the past year, with 12.5 billion euros additionally spent on trade fairs and exhibitions, as surveys conducted by inter-trade organisations and the trade fair industry suggest.

In the recent past, a large number of exhibitors had been arguing for a new trade fair location in order to become able to showcase their businesses more efficiently. From now on, the trade fair will take place in halls number 4, 7 and 8 of the Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund, comprising adequate and top quality exhibition spaces of nearly 20,000 square metres (approx. 215,278 square feet). Further exhibition space will be optionally available if a stronger interest needs to be satisfied. In discussions with Beate Nöhre, exhibitors have already responded with widespread positive feedback for the new location Dortmund.

Positive exhibitor feedback for removal

“We really look forward to the new location,“ says Joris Bomers, Managing Director of Party Rent Group in Bocholt. “The fair grounds in Dortmund feature more favourable exhibition space conditions and allow for further development and growth of the ‘Best of Events’. The ‘Best of Events’ will also benefit from the fact that Dortmund has been able to gain a good reputation as one of Germany’s trade fair cities in recent years.”

“New ideas, new concepts, new location – our leading trade fair reinvents itself”, says Vok Dams delightedly, CEO of “VOK DAMS : ILM, Institute for Live Marketing”, which is located in Wuppertal. “After eleven years in Wiesbaden and a successful development to one of the most significant trade fairs, the new location Dortmund will allow the ‘Best of Events’ to reorientate itself and to further develop dynamically towards becoming one of Europe’s leading trade fairs in the events industry.”

“A leading trade fair needs to be able to present itself adequately, and the new trade fair location in Dortmund finally provides the respective conditions,” summarises Carsten Knieriem, Managing Director of MCI Deutschland, which is located in Stuttgart. “All exhibitors will benefit from the new and additional opportunities. This will ensure that the route to success can be further followed under the direction of Beate Nöhrig in the long run!“

“Losberger is keen to move to Dortmund and looks forward to contributing to a perfect start at a new location by being present with a well-designed stand,” explains Dieter Schimmel, Director Group Marketing of Losberger, which is located in Bad Rappenau. “The ‘Best of Events’ will definitely benefit from the new location. It will allow for further positive development for us and the trade fair itself.”

“The removal to Dortmund represents a new inspiration for the events trade fair we have been awaiting for two years now,” explains Alexander Ostermaier, Director Corporate Communications of Neumann&Müller Veranstaltungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG. “The revised and broader area concept will allow the exhibitors to showcase their business activities more effectively, which, in turn, will make the entire trade fair even more attractive for visitors. A good decision!“

Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 and centre of the creative industry

Exhibitors as well as the entire industry will also be happy about the fact that the city of Dortmund has explicitly committed itself to promoting the creative industry. Udo Mager, Managing Director of the City of Dortmund Economic Development Agency says, “It is a good sign for the creativity location Dortmund that the leading trade fair for events will take place in the Messe Westfalenhallen. A single look at last year’s catalogue reveals that many exhibitors are located in Dortmund or North Rhine-Westphalia.” Since 2008, the City of Dortmund Economic Development Agency has been pooling the activities of the creative industry – similar to the forward-looking sectors of its dortmund-project. The homepage www.kreativwirtschaft-dortmund.de, which is part of several different marketing components, has been very effective; 149 companies of those 313 businesses currently registered operate in the sub-segment “Advertising Industry and Event Management”. “With the ‘Best of Events’, we will now have a particular trade fair for our clientele in this region, the impact of which goes far beyond Dortmund”, explains Udo Mager.

The focus on this specific industry is also part of the overall project RUHR.2010, for the entire Ruhr area will be the European Capital of Culture in 2010. “Arts, culture, creativity and new concepts represent the driving force behind technologic and economic innovation processes. They play a significant role in creating new jobs and forward-looking structures of the region”, welcomes Prof Dr Oliver Scheytt, General Director of RUHR.2010 GmbH, the visitors of www.ruhr2010.de.

Scheytt adds that RUHR.2010 will permanently strengthen the region’s creative and economic power; it will unveil the activities of the 200,000 companies operating in this sector across regional borders and combine them synergetically; and it will establish a network with local structures.

“We move to Dortmund wholeheartedly – this is where we see our trade fair’s future,“ stresses the organiser Beate Nöhre. The initiatives that the city of Dortmund and the entire region undertake to promote the creative industry represent, alongside the recently concluded contract with the Messe Westfalen Dortmund, “a great basis for long-run and effective cooperation”.

“Best of Events” 2010 – Dates & Details:

Information available online at: www.boe-messe.de
Date: from January to January 21, 2010
Location: Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund, Germany

Information for editors:

Printable images of the previous trade fair can be found on our homepage www.boe-messe.de, via the menu item > “Presse” > “Bildmaterial” > “Pressephotos”

In case of inquiries regarding this press release, please contact:

Ralph Michael Müller, “Best of Events“ Public Relations, c/o Fleetwerk Kommunikation, Hamburg, Germany, by e-mail: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie sie sehen können. ; or by phone: 0049 40 / 32 02 73 80.

Dr Andreas Weber, Management / Public Relations, Messe Westfalenhallen Dortmund, Germany, by e-mail: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie sie sehen können. ; or by phone: 0049 231 / 12 04-514.

Pascal Ledune, press officer of the City of Dortmund Economic Development Agency, Germany, by e-mail: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie sie sehen können. ; or by phone: 0049 231 / 50 2 92 00.