The event that opens the new furniture season after each summer break is back in Pordenone. A comeback that seems relatively unaffected by a crisis that has struck many other exhibitions.
Here we are, everything is ready. A few more days, and Sicam – the event to be held in Pordenone, completely dedicated to semifinished materials, supplies and components – is starting off. There is no need for long introductions, as we believe the story of this event (this year celebrating the fifth edition, though its origins date much farther back…) is well known to everyone. The same is true for its role of annual even, only second to Interzum, which is a biennial exhibition.
News for this year starts with a different calendar: the exhibition – running from 15 to 18 October – is not going from Wednesday to Saturday, but from Tuesday to Friday, as decided by exhibitors themselves.
This is no actually new, as organizers informed industry people and press immediately after the exhibitors’ opinion poll of the previous edition, last October. Accurate and attentive, the Exposicam team…
The event has become a leading exhibition also for the undoubted skills of its patron, Carlo Giobbi – effectively supported by his children Carolina and Michele – whom we visited also this year to talk about what is awaiting us in October. As we have known each other for a long time, we took some liberty…
CARLO GIOBBI
A proven exhibition, with a valuable audience, and only positive feedback. Consistent figures even in a critical period like the current one. And this year, there are no worries for overlapping dates with Made, unlike 2012. Aren’t you getting bored?
“If you love your job, you never get bored”, he answers with his usual confidence. “If you work with passion, if you do your best, that word has no meaning.
And I add that you don’t have to run after new ideas for their own sake; after all, it is not easy to do something unexpected. We are in a mature economic and historical period: much has been done, much has already been invented. Nevertheless, if you have better ideas, you can always find opportunities. But let me tell you that, at least in fair organization, in this kind of services to companies, you cannot start a new age.
Many things have changed, we have experienced many adventures, we have seen many stories. We like the stories where we work well, we give all we can to our exhibitors and our visitors in terms of service and hosting, so that they can focus on their business.
The “Sicam model” – if you allow his definition, which I have always found excessive – aims exactly at unifying all services to leave all exhibitors and visitors exclusively to their business”.
So, what’s left to do?
“As usual, work hard to keep the results achieved, without relaxing. I don’t need to tell you that, in times like these, it’s not bad keeping a constant trend… We are also recording a reduction of square meters, but it’s just few percent points below the average value of the previous four shows, and this year again we are around 13 thousand net square meters.
You know better than me that many companies have closed down, many others have merged, more again have been taken over. On the whole, the number of actors has decreased, but I repeat we cannot complain.
However, let me stress that in Pordenone you will find all leading companies in the different industries, and we are proud to host major multinational companies such as Akzo Nobel, Porcellanosa, Renolit and Kronoswiss, just to mention a few names: in a year when everyone says the Italian market is standing still, it’s not easy to draw the attention of big names…”.
A solid event, that the market shows to appreciate. What about collective stands? Could they open up new opportunities?
“I keep saying that collective delegations are our core business. We have always done that, that’s where we come from. Since long ago, in different industries and different countries. Our company Business International has always done and keeps doing that, although it is not a matter of business for us; the purpose is to support exhibitors willing to approach certain markets, leveraging our experience and organization skills”.
We repeat it: nothing to get bored…
“… and I repeat I don’t know what that word means. Sicam is a matter of quality, and as such it requires constant commitment. The problem is not selling more space, because Pordenone is not a big expo center and we cannot grow beyond a certain size. But this is a satisfactory formula for our exhibitors, whom we constantly ask advice and suggestions. We want to do what our customers need, and the recipe we have created keeps working, as facts prove…”.
For the first time, you will have a technology manufacturer…
“Cefla Group requested and got an information booth to greet their customers, as many of them exhibit at our show, and other operators who visit the show and can be interested in their offer. There will not be any machine, I want to stress this, because this is not our business; there will only be painted semifinished materials, produced with Cefla technology by their customers.
An experience that I consider positive and might be extended to other exhibitors, but always with the same approach”.
Some figures…
Pordenone is ready to host the fifth edition of Sicam, the international exhibition of components, semifinished materials and accessories for the furniture industry.
Here are a few figures to give you an idea of what you are talking about: in 2012 there were 17 thousand visitors, 30 percent from abroad. The overall figure is relevant (basically stable, compared to the show record, almost a miracle right now…), as well as the fact that operators came to Pordenone from 94 countries; the international scope of visitors is an added value that even organizers would not have imagined few years ago. Visitor figures from Europe were excellent (more than 70 percent of foreign visitors, with Germany, Russia, France and Spain in the lead), and “growing interest” from Turkey and Asia.
Exhibitors were 500, one more or one less, and also among them many interesting companies came from across the border…
Dates have already been fixed and communicate also for next year, from Tuesday 14 to Friday 17 October 2014, again in Pordenone.
