Summary
¦ W10 takes place at NEC Birmingham from October 3-6.
¦ 200 machinery and other product brands will be on show.
¦ The show’s marketing campaign targeted 250,000 potential visitors.
Our aim at W10 Working with Wood is to hit the right note as the wood-based manufacturing industries compete in demanding markets.
Technology, materials and methods each have a key part to play in ensuring UK manufacturers working with wood can prosper against the world’s best. W10, the UK’s national industrial woodworking exhibition, has a clear responsibility to showcase the products its industry needs. This might have seemed a tough call in the bleak days of 2009 – but our 2010 event will be one of the most focused trade exhibitions around.
Much though we, as organisers, would like to take credit for this, everyone knows that exhibitors really make the show. Visit the NEC halls at the start of October and you’ll see what a magnificent job they have done.
A line-up of over 200 major brands from across the world will show how their products and services have developed during difficult times. Technology is about doing more, faster and with cost savings. Every supplier’s stand is packed with ways to achieve this.
Materials, often lighter and with amazing versatility, are being developed with increasing awareness of new shaping technology – and of course the large presence of software suppliers is testament to the fact that top-flight production methods are now within the reach of forward-looking smaller manufacturers as well as the sector giants.
Range of exhibitors
Overcoming the global squeeze on marketing resources, the array of W10 exhibitors should be applauded for their desire to meet end users and display confidence in their products. Suppliers showing their wares at a national trade event are the players engaging with the market, prepared to put their product alongside equally confident competitors’.
W10 has received new investment following its purchase from the WMSA by Huddlestone. Any trade event in a venue like NEC Birmingham needs wide appeal and we’ve promoted the show to over 250,000 potential visitors.
A major goal for Huddlestone has been to inform the manufacturing market that W10 is not all about big machinery – it targets all levels of manufacturing with wood in the UK.
The result has been an unprecedented awareness campaign with an excellent response from exhibitors and visitors alike.
Pre-registration numbers bear this out – around 50% higher than any previous year.
Pre-exhibition promotions
Recognising the fact that exhibitors also need more ‘bangs for their buck’ we have offered them a range of pre-exhibition promotions at no extra cost. The principle here is that a live event needs to be the pinnacle of a marketing campaign rather than an isolated event.
The W10 website is key to the communication campaign, featuring new products, exhibitor news and a profiled visitor
e-news campaign. There is no limitation on exhibitors’ use of the site and it aims to augment traditional print-based previews for visitors.
In conjunction with Proskills, the seminar content at W10 has also been updated. Rolling 20-minute seminars on key manufacturing topics will provide valuable knowledge in bite-sized chunks – then it’s out into the exhibition floor to see it all in action.
Of course W10 and its successors will always have a strong Woodmex content. Machinery remains at the centre of the event which continues to display running equipment. Homag, SCM, Felder, Weinig and RW are just a few of the major machinery names heading the technology parade.
Timber suppliers are also coming from the UK, with Whitmore’s among the companies making their show debut, and as far away as Chile. The message that machinery buyers increasingly buy materials is also spreading.
2010 is the time for a solidly progressive show for the sector, with exhibitors and their products doing the real talking. That’s what W10 aims to provide.
