The 40th edition of EIMA International drew to a close with a balance sheet which exceeded even the most optimistic expectations on the eve of the event. The exposition of mechanization for agriculture and gardening and components sponsored by FederUnacoma and organized by Unacoma Service can report an all-time high for the exhibition area committed, 140,000 m² net and 270,000 m² gross, the public, with 196,192 visitors logged over the five days from November 7th to 11th, and foreign business people arriving, 32,133. Especially this latter figure showed steep growth of ¬¬¬¬¬¬22% over the already brilliant 2010 edition to confirm the international slant of this review which has risen to the front rank of these events in the sector. The exhibiting industries came from 40 countries, visitors arrived from 140 countries and official delegations turned up from 60 nations for the exposition of technologies for all types of agricultural operations, from the great spreads of American and Australian farms to the small plots cultivated in Asian and African regions. The great promotional and commercial event was also a time for communications with a schedule of more than one hundred appointments for conferences, workshops and seminars dealing with an array of economic, agricultural and technological issues. Among the leading issues handled were those on European Union agriculture policy, bio-energy, multifunctional agriculture and safety, a theme given special treatment by ENAMA, the National Agricultural Mechanization Agency. In its own large stand, ENAMA ran a schedule of workshops, meetings on training and the dissemination of information, safe driving demonstrations and machinery maintenance. Where it was not possible to reach the public directly, EIMA International reached out via the Internet with an EIMA website dedicated mainly to the four specialized salons which draw a large number of hits.
Also offered on the site for the first time was the Web TV for broadcasting conferences and meetings live and running programming of more than five hours daily with round-ups and round-the-clock coverage which drew large numbers of viewers.
EIMA’s phenomenal communications also reached to the social level by giving hearings for the first time not only to institutions and the exhibiting companies but to visitors as well who responded to a special group of bloggers who made up the EIMA Social Team for broadcasting the lively and energy-charged atmosphere in the pavilions and fed Facebook with posts, a photo gallery of all the pavilions, the micro log Twitter and a YouTube channel.
FederUnacoma President Massimo Goldoni commented, “Every person and every enterprise among those who visited this EIMA will have a lot of work to do when this review comes to an end because of the enormous mass of contacts established at the trade fair for making them productive and translating them into business. But the experience of an EIMA like this goes well beyond business relations to become an emotional legacy as well for all of us, a sentiment which will drive us, together with the BolognaFiere, the manufacturers and businesspeople and all the agencies which have a say in agricultural mechanization, to plan for the next exposition and look forward to it with impatience,” Goldoni concluded.
Source: Unacoma
