Interplas 2005 wins out in online survey

Interplas 2005 has topped the ratings in a poll conducted by PEplus to ascertain the level of market support for the established Interplas trade show and for the recently announced PDM05 exhibition, also scheduled for presentation in the UK in 2005. Of those surveyed 83% said that they would be visiting Interplas.

While claimed not to be competing with Interplas, the inauguration of the PDM event in the same year does threaten to stretch already light budgets at a time when the UK plastics industry is trying to consolidate its position in continuing tough national and international marketplaces.

It was to aid the industry’s equipment and material producers, as well as its service providers, that Interplas organizers, Reed Exhibitions, recently announced a raft of changes to be implemented for Interplas 2005. “In consultation with industry representative bodies we have fine-tuned Interplas to make it more cost effective for exhibitors and more attendance-attractive for industry visitors,” explains Justin Tadman, Reed Exhibitions Group, Exhibitor Director.

“These changes are substantial and wide-ranging, and it’s clear from the endorsements we’ve already received, which include those of the Plastics Machinery Manufacturers and Distributors Association and the British Plastics Federation, that what we have done accords with industry exhibitor needs,” says Tadman. “The results of the survey carried out by PEplus tend to confirm that we have taken the correct actions from the visitors perspective as well.”

The generally held perception of a trade show and the number of industry visitors it attracts are the value test of any exhibition. The introduction of a new event in the plastics show-calendar has the potential to dilute budgets, efforts and time available for exhibiting and visiting. To gain an insight into the opinions of those working in the industry, PEplus, the independent weekly online magazine for the polymers industry, polled its 12,500 subscribers.

PEplus posed the question: “In 2005 there are two events or exhibitions – EMAP’s Plastic Design and Moulding in Telford and Reed Exhibitions’ Interplas at the NEC in Birmingham – do you plan to visit either one or the other or both?” The results speak for themselves: 54% of visitors plan to visit both events. However 29% will visit Interplas exclusively and 13% will go only to PDM05. The remaining respondents said they did not intend to visit either event.

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