Elmia Wood fair sets eyes on the future

June 8, 2012 – In just over a year’s time, the gates to Elmia Wood 2013 will open at Bratteborgs Gård in Vaggeryd, south of Jönköping. Planning for the fair’s content and themes is in full swing, and to date 230 companies have booked places at the fair. But even though there’s more than a year to go until the next forestry fair, the trade fair team are already publishing the dates for upcoming forestry fairs in 2015 and 2017.

“Companies appreciate having plenty of advance notice and a long-term approach,” says Veronika Albert, who is responsible for communication for Elmia’s forestry fairs. “Many companies take part in forestry fairs in different countries. We know that international fair organisers adapt their programmes to our years and dates, so it is important to publish this information now.”

Alternate international and Swedish fairs

Elmia is continuing to alternate between the major international Elmia Wood fair every four years and the smaller Swedish SkogsElmia fair in between.

“The southern Swedish forestry market, which accounts for two-thirds of Sweden’s forestry, is one of the world’s single largest and most concentrated markets for forestry technology,” says Veronika. “With more than 30,000 industry visitors, SkogsElmia is the perfect interim trade show between the bigger Elmia Wood fairs.

“SkogsElmia is an opportunity to focus more on issues of importance to the Swedish market,” says Veronika. “This is more difficult at the enormous Elmia Wood fair, which attracts more than 17,000 international visitors.”

Experienced trade fair team

The Elmia Wood trade fair team is a mixture of new and old. Johan Löfgren, agronomist with experience of forestry work with both the Federation of Swedish Farmers and Södra, is responsible for the practical project management regarding the exhibition area’s planning, construction and logistics. Johan had the same responsibility when he worked on SkogsElmia 2011, when he started at Elmia. Jörgen Andersson is new to the team and is an international salesperson.

Jörgen joined Elmia in January 2012 from DHL. Veronika Albert has been responsible for the forestry fairs’ communication and international marketing since 1999. Ann-Sofie Gustafsson, who has been responsible for Elmia’s agricultural fairs for many years, is the project co-ordinator for Elmia Wood, and Torbjörn Johnsen, business unit manager for Elmia’s green fairs, has overall co-ordination responsibility for Elmia’s forestry fairs.

Innovation a common thread for 2013

The team working on next year’s fair is planning all kinds of innovations.

“We know that our visitors come here to see innovations, and this has been a common thread in our planning work in the run-up to Elmia Wood next year,” says Torbjörn Johnsen, trade fair manager at Elmia. Several exciting projects have been identified to date.

“The technical innovations are important of course, but there is also an ambition to develop the trade fair experience itself. Using modern technology we hope to set new standards for how forestry fairs can be organised,” Torbjörn concludes.