"We’re still not where we ought to be"
The German exhibition industry is selling itself short in terms of job attractiveness, in the opinion of Cologne exhibition company CEO Jochen Witt. "Fairs are fascinating, and exhibition companies provide a first-rate working environment." The trouble is, hardly anyone is aware of this ...
Jochen Witt is not the only one critical of all the talk and headlines about privatisation of Germany's state-owned exhibition companies and their subsidisation. In the public perception this associates the exhibition industry too closely with public administration, he believes. "That's not good for the industry's image. It's a two-fold pity, because headlines like these also frighten off top-notch new-generation academic talent." Job choices are determined partly by image issues and not simply facts. This means German exhibition companies are not appealing enough to top international graduates, the CEO says. The crux is that very few students are aware of the many opportunities open to them in the exhibition industry. Exhibition organisers sell themselves short, he complains. "That's why the top university graduates prefer to work for Coca Cola or the McKinseys of this world rather than for us." He sees this as regrettable, because nowhere are the career opportunities greater and the work more attractive and exciting than in the exhibition industry. "There is arguably no business that offers people starting out in working life a more international debut."
Witt identifies various reasons why the German exhibition industry undersells itself or is undersold. One is that academic economics courses do not include exhibition business. "It is merely touched on. That does not do justice to the industry. We’re terra incognita." Secondly, Witt criticises the reduction of trade fairs to their function as a marketing tool. They are also an extremely effective sales instrument, he says. "Strictly speaking, fairs condense all aspects of marketing and distribution into a brief period." People do not realise how complex a job exhibition management is. What a trade fair does, what making an exhibition means, that the customer is part of the product, the emotional components - all that goes under."
Mindful of this shortcoming, seven years ago officials in Cologne set up an institute of exhibition sciences at Cologne University. Although Koelnmesse exerts absolutely no influence, contacts with this institute are very close. Students can obtain internships at the exhibition company. Twenty of the students that have since graduated have demonstrably remained in the exhibition scene, and the first doctor's degree has now also been awarded, Witt reports.
The intention is to hold exhibitions high on the curriculum. Although exhibition studies are not a compulsory subject and purely elective, student interest is great nonetheless. "It is the best attended optional subject at Cologne University," Witt proudly announces. The importance Koelnmesse attaches to the institute, which is headed by three professors, is also reflected in support for the staff with lectures. Even competitors are included. "The institute is very open, to give students the broadest possible spectrum." But Witt is critical of the exhibition industry's virtually non-existent willingness to contribute to the institute in any other way. "There’s not a trace of cooperation. Typical of the German exhibition industry." He regrets: "Placing grooming for academic high potentials on a broader basis just doesn't work. Yet together we could generate real momentum." Witt is disappointed: "We should all be striving to make the exhibition industry one of the most attractive workplaces in the market for high-achieving graduates."
German exhibition organisers tend to be Mittelstand (small and medium-sized family-owned) companies ideal for young people. Trade fairs not only imply a wide variety of industries and countries. They also offer the possibility of quickly rising to act in varied functions and to assume responsibility. Exhibitions are communication pure. "You're always dealing with people."
As a result of persistent debate on privatisation and subsidies, Jochen Witt sees young academics associating the exhibition industry closely with public administration. "They overlook the fact that present-day exhibition business is all about tough competition under private law, calling for analytical, structured approaches. "Our history has a negative impact on the recruitment market," the exhibition CEO says. People enter public services for job security and not to shape processes. But, he insists, an entrepreneurial mentality is in greater demand than ever in the exhibition industry. What therefore needs to be done is to work on the public perception aspect, and to develop a positive image - internationally as well.
Just recently Koelnmesse signed up to cooperate with Cologne University of Applied Sciences on a course in Corporate Architecture, Fairs and Exhibitions. But Jochen Witt would like to see more funding and a broader basis for training young academics. "It's important that we commit the best people to us in the long term."
m+a report Nr.3 / 2006 vom 28.04.2006
m+a report vom 28. April 2006