Swap Meets, Shows and Contests…
This year, my exhibition team colleagues got down to business pretty quickly. We have only completed the first three months of this year and we have already visited five events: the toy fair in Nuremberg, the toy fair in Verona, the modeling festival in Bytom, the Panthers Cup modeling competition in Prosek and the exhibition of plastic models at the event known here as Easter Prostějov. I think this represents a record, and if by some chance it doesn’t, it was definitely a record performance for our exhibition teams in March, with, apart from the first weekend of the month, they were at one event or another and believe me it was a real buzz.
This year, my exhibition team colleagues got
down to business pretty quickly. We have only
completed the first three months of this year
and we have already visited five events: the
toy fair in Nuremberg, the toy fair in Verona,
the modeling festival in Bytom, the Panthers
Cup modeling competition in Prosek and the
exhibition of plastic models at the event known
here as Easter Prostějov. I think this represents
a record, and if by some chance it doesn’t,
it was definitely a record performance for our
exhibition teams in March, with, apart from
the first weekend of the month, they were at
one event or another and believe me it was
a real buzz. And not only for us, but also for
all of our other colleagues who, in one form
or another, participated in the preparation for
the events, whether it was their work on pre-
orders, the preparation of goods that we took to
the events, and also the marketing department
that supports sales and coordinates transport,
accommodations and everything else that
needed attending to. And we do it because,
actually, we do enjoy coming out to you, our
customers. In addition, we often combine these
trips with the preparation of references for our
future projects, as was the case, for example,
during our trip to Italy in the fall, which you have
certainly already read about in Vladimír Šulc's
article in this issue.
This list is far from complete for the year
and will only grow! In addition to the already
traditional and well-established events, you
will be able to meet us, for example, at an
exhibition in Zagreb, Croatia, or at the tank
museum in Saumur, France. This year is a kind
of testing year for new exhibitions for us, and
so far I have to say that the visits we have tried
out as an experiment have proven themselves.
The toy fair in Verona was a pleasant surprise,
and our participation in Bytom was also positive
according to the feedback from our colleagues,
so I expect that we will participate in both
events next year as well.
To the contrary though, another traditional
event that Eduard has been participating in
for over thirty years surprised us this year in
a disappointing way. Let me return once again to
the Nuremberg Toy Fair this year. I wanted to take
a break from evaluating this event and wait to
see how other editors and other commentators
reacted to this year’s event. And you know what
I learned? Practically nothing. Not much at all
was written about Nuremberg. I read some
rather superficial reports, as if the authors
were not even at the fair, and the impression
was that the fair didn’t interest many. After all,
practically none of the companies in our field
announced any truly fresh, breathtaking news
at the show. Even we only repeated previously
announced projects. We held a conference at
our table for this purpose, where only three
guests showed up that were representatives of
the modeling public or the press. But through
their virtual absence, I learned something about
Nuremberg. Was there any reason to attend?
Does it actually make sense to participate in
such a fair anymore?
I think the organizers needlessly dealt
with matters that actually did not attract
participants. A good example was this year's
allowing the general public admission to the
halls and permission for participants to sell
exhibited goods. The fair takes place from
Wednesday to Saturday, but I think we could
organize meetings and seminars where it would
be possible to discuss everything necessary
in just two days. Such informal discussions
at the tables would disappear and important
matters could be dealt with. We could discuss
other matters over a beer in the evening as well.
In short, instead of unnecessary incremental
(and unnecessary) innovations, the organizers
should rather think about decreasing the
costs of the exhibition spaces and shortening
the event, which would make the fair more
accessible, more attractive for a larger number
of exhibitors, and also for the people traveling
to the fair., who are constantly decreasing due
to the ever-increasing prices of the tables,
because it no longer makes any real sense for
them to attend. This would ultimately make the
fair more meaningful for other companies, the
press and the public, the numbers of which
could be reversed and increase.
But I also see no need to be exclusively
negative, either. We were still happy to be able to
meet representatives of a number of companies
from the industry, whom we have not seen in
Nuremberg for a few years due to covid. We had
several such meetings, because, apart from us,
ICM, Revell, Special Hobby, Miniart, Academy,
Gunze, Hobby Boss/Trumpeter (these sharing
a common table), Tamiya and Zvezda through
their Austrian representatives took part in the
fair. The participation of Ukrainian companies
was a surprise for me personally, especially
ICM, who’s presence despite the destruction
in Kiev, put a smile on my face. However, the
other events this year have excited us greatly
so far, and I expect the trend to continue.
The next upcoming event is the exhibition in
Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary, and I hereby
invite you all to our exhibit and tables and you
definitely have something to look forward to, as
we will bring along our limited edition 1:48th
scale P-51B Mustang!
SWAP MEETS, SHOWS AND CONTESTS…
Text: Jakub Nademljenský
The team at the Eduard table at the Nuremberg fair
(from left Jan Zdiarský, Martin Ferkl, Vladimír Šulc,
Jakub Nademlejnský and Jan Bobek)
Table at the Panthers Cup contest.
The table at Bytom.
Limited Edition Spitfire Mk.Vb Early prepared especially
for the Bytom Festival with extra Polish markings.
INFO Eduard122
April 2024