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| Stone+tec: Healthy size and good business  Stone+tec Nürnberg 2011, the International Trade Fair Natural Stone and Stoneprocessing, took place in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 22–25 June 2011 and presented a more compact event than in previous years. At the same time, the willingness to make new investments has grown noticeably following the past crisis years.Nine out of ten companies also welcomed visitors to their stand from countries outside Germany – primarily from Germany's neighbours, but also from the rest of Europe. More than 80 per cent of the exhibiting companies were satisfied with exhibiting at the event in 2011, and a good three-quarters acknowledged that Stone+tec Nürnberg is an important to exceptionally important part of their marketing activities. As far as visitors were concerned, the 53 per cent share from the craft trades clearly dominated, followed by the industry with 21 per cent, and the wholesale and retail trade with 16 per cent. Over 40 per cent of the visitors hold management positions in their companies, 23 per cent are from production and 15 per cent from sales. Nine out of ten visitors are involved in purchasing and procurement decisions in their company, and almost half of them decisively influence these decisions. There is great satisfaction with the variety and size of the product spectrum on display: nine out of ten visitors see no need for improvements here. For more than half of them, Stone+tec is the only natural stone exhibition they visit. Some two-thirds of the visitors feel inspired to use what they have seen at the exhibition in their everyday work, and 37 per cent actually made purchases at the exhibition. Besides the established and renowned awards for outstanding achievements in architecture and craftsmanship, the German Natural Stone Award – organized for the first time on a European-wide basis – and the Peter Parler Award, the highlights at Stone+tec Nürnberg included the newly launched "Stone+more" Innovation Award and the Student Day, which also celebrated its premiere. The Stone+more Award, a joint initiative of the Bundesverband Deutscher Steinmetze (Association of German Stonemasons), the Deutscher Naturwerkstein-Verband (German Natural Stone Association) and the Fachverband Fliesen und Naturstein (Tile and Natural Stone Association), was presented in three different categories plus a Public Award chosen by the exhibition visitors. The Student Day offered students from schools of architecture the opportunity to listen to the interesting discussions of the "Baumeister Architektur Quartett" and obtain valuable ideas for their own future buildings at the presentation by Swiss star architect Max Dudler, the winner of the German Natural Stone Award 2011. The students were then able to ideally supplement the theory by taking the opportunity to experience natural stone live in the exhibition halls. The programme of lectures at Stone+tec Nürnberg 2011 was also more extensive than ever and covered a whole series of further events for specific target groups on topical issues like industrial safety, social criteria for quarrying and trading natural stone, professional laying of natural stone tiles, sustainability, CE marking and test standards, nanotechnology and industrial design. The date of the exhibition traditionally includes either Ascension Day or Corpus Christi, the two variable spring public holidays, which enables the craft trades in particular to visit the exhibition without having to close their firms on these days. Due to other large events in the direct vicinity of the exhibition grounds and public holidays, Stone+tec Nürnberg 2011 took place later than usual. The next event in the cycle returns to the customary spot in the exhibition calendar and will be held in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from Wednesday to Saturday, 29 May to 1 June 2013. write your comments about the article :: © 2011 Construction News :: home page |