Christoph Matheis - Managing Director of the German Surface Technology Association, Hilden
Interview: Heinz Käsinger
Mr. Matheis, the ZVO Surface Technology Days were relaunched at the end of September. Has the mixed concept with presence and online access proved successful?
After last year's event was canceled due to the coronavirus, the hybrid organization of the ZVO Surface Days 2021 was the only way to prevent another cancellation. The planning was accompanied by months of uncertainty. It was not until the beginning of June that we received approval to hold the event as an in-person event, albeit with very strict conditions. The hybrid approach was our net with a double bottom and has proven itself in this respect. In addition, this year's Hybrid Edition was an important signal to the public that we are also capable of organizing technically challenging large-scale events. We proved this impressively, and the technical implementation of the virtual area in particular was first-class. In terms of participant response, the hybrid approach did not prove successful.
May we know the figures?
305 face-to-face attendees were okay in view of the never-ending media panic scenarios about the Delta IV variant. However, the response from just 45 online participants was a bitter disappointment.
What is important in the end, however, is the satisfaction of the participants. What did exhibitors and visitors say?
Both the personal feedback and the results of our survey of exhibitors and participants, both in person and virtually, were consistently positive. Even if we have to admit that it was not an outstanding event in terms of customer acquisition for exhibitors. Nevertheless, the ZVO Surface Days 2021 Hybrid Edition was a successful re-launch. I only noticed cheerful participants who enjoyed the first opportunity for personal industry exchange after 18 months. The pure joy of seeing each other again was palpable among the participants. At the end of the day, nothing beats a face-to-face meeting.
"The ZVO Surface Days will return to their former greatness"
What did you miss most about this slimmed-down version?
300 attendees, which we wouldn't have been able to accommodate anyway due to the coronavirus-related limit of 500 attendees.
Looking into the crystal ball: What will the ZVO Surface Days of the future look like?
The ZVO Surface Technology Days will soon return to their former size as a purely face-to-face event, perhaps as early as next year from September 14 to 16 in Leipzig. We would like to place more emphasis on addressing R&D needs and topics from medium-sized industrial companies, without yet knowing how we can organize this in a confidential and trustworthy manner; we will concentrate on a maximum of four parallel lecture sessions and focus more on user topics for operators of electroplating plants in the program content, for example through a so-called entrepreneur forum. Perhaps the spouses/partners of the participants will also play a role again in the future.
ABOUT THE PERSON
Christoph Matheis is delighted with the successful comeback of the Surface Days, but would also like to see a return to the usual visitor numbers in the future. He is now pinning his hopes on 2022. In Leipzig, the ZVO will focus on a face-to-face event with a maximum of four lecture strands and many practical topics.
