drinktec supporting program — the extra something

What makes a difference at a trade fair? The presentations of exhibitors are the most important factor. But the events of the supporting program are the “add-on”, the extra something. The supporting program at drinktec 2017 was more extensive than ever before, and the trade visitors made ample use of it. In the visitor survey, 60 percent indicated that they visited at least one event or were interested in it.

 Top marks for the supporting program

• At the top of the awareness scale: the drinktec Forum. Every fourth drinktec visitor knows or at least has heard of it. Approx. 1,300 visitors attended the presentations in Hall A2 on the five trade fair days. Independent experts provided solution approaches there on the issues of “Process engineering and safe beverages”, “New resources”, “Industry 4.0” and “Batch size 1”.
• Brand new in the drinktec forum: the lecture series “5 o’Clock Topic“. Three keynote speakers, bestselling author Kishor Sridhar, Sahar Hashemi, founder of Coffee Republic and Sven Gábor Jánszky, Director of the 2b AHEAD ThinkTank, provided stimuli in their presentations for successfully developing new markets and business ideas.
• Brewers from around the world were attracted to the Place2beer in Hall B1. The visitors were able to taste beers there free of charge from all over the world. There was also an exciting program of talks on topics related to beer, food and beer, the craft beer landscape, packaging and branding. Ninety-five percent of the exhibitors evaluated the newly designed area as “excellent to good”.
• The new exhibition area Home&Craft proved to be an attractive contract spot for small and hobby brewers looking for suitable equipment for home-brewing. Ninety-seven percent of visitors gave top marks for this, which shows that the drinktec has obviously filled a previously unmet need here.
• The Innovation Flow Lounge (IFL), first specially created for visitors from the sales and marketing, areas in 2013, has already become relatively well known. Of the approximately 5,300 visitors who know the IFL, 92% rated it as “excellent to good”. Beverage producers in IFL provided information on topics such as “Use social networks for brand success” and “Augmented reality”.
• The Special Area New Beverage Concepts demonstrated that drinks are more than just thirst-quenchers nowadays. In Hall B1, product and brand managers as well as marketing managers were able to obtain information about innovative ingredients and beverage concepts: from hibiscus pomegranate tea all the way to the Stevia-based sweetener solution. At least every tenth drinktec visitor was interested in the special show.
• The water-technology@drinktec Symposium, organized by the VDMA trade association Food and Packaging Machinery Association, also received top grades.       There were daily talks and discussions dealing with the topic of water. Exhibitors, representatives from manufacturing companies and experts from science and research provided information about comprehensive approaches to water management. Sustainability officers and energy company managers especially got valuable input there.

 Of course, numerous contests and awards were again included the supporting program 

• Stephan from Germany won first prize as the New World Sommelier Champion for Beer. He prevailed in the finals against five opponents. Felix Schiffner from Austria came in second place and Rodrigo Sawamura from Brazil third.
• The most successful brewery in the European Beer Star contest came from Germany! The private brewery Schonram from the upper Bavarian municipality Petting won three gold medals and one bronze. The coveted medal for the “Consumers’ Favourite”, which is selected by the trade fair visitors from the gold medal winners, was awarded to the brewery Aying Franz Inselkammer. Of the 2,151 beers (record!) submitted from 46 countries, 60 received the coveted gold medal.
• The Beverage Innovation Awards were presented in 25 categories. Carel Industries – Heez won the prestigious award for the “Best environmental sustainability initiative”.