After a break of more than two years due to the pandemic, the green sector can again look forward to a large-scale trade event. Interested parties can find out which companies will be exhibiting, which trends and products will be presented, and which topics and speakers the accompanying program has to offer in the interview with Sabina Großkreuz, Head of Marketing Division, and Andrea Hölker, Project Manager of the IPM Summer Edition.
How are you looking forward to the IPM Summer Edition as a trade fair organizer?
Sabina Großkreuz: With great pleasure! After two editions of IPM ESSEN that were not feasible, we can finally host the green industry again. I am particularly looking forward to what we had to wait so long for the professional exchange and personal interaction with the exhibitors and visitors. The IPM Summer Edition is a completely new format for us and the sector. We want to set new impulses for the current horticultural year and, at the same time, take this tailwind with us towards IPM ESSEN 2023.
What are you planning so that this succeeds?
Sabina Großkreuz: The IPM Summer Edition is a compact and cutting-edge communication and order platform, which above all, offers many opportunities for networking. Numerous associations use the summer event to hold their committee and member meetings in an environment that is close to the industry and to set the course for the future. The IPM Summer Edition is a trendsetting industry get-together that deals with the burning question 'How do we want to produce, transport, and market plants sustainably in the future?' and presents solutions. All these topics and trends, which are currently developing rapidly, will be continued at IPM ESSEN in January 2023.
What else can visitors expect?
Andrea Hölker: The Trade Congress on Monday morning is one of the highlights of the first day of the fair. Twelve experts, such as industry expert Andreas Löbke from CO CONCEPT, Dr. Jens Oldenburg, Managing Director of the Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg, Tobias Theuerkauf, Logistics Manager - Planting Stock at toom, and Anne Baltes-Schlüter, co-founder of Plant Box, will speak about the current market situation, reusable packaging, peat alternatives, and plant marketing.
In addition, trend tours in the IPM Discovery Center and themed tours through the Grugapark offer the opportunity to expand one's knowledge and experience horticultural products in practice. In the Speakers' Corner, experts such as Maik Mandemaker, Area Manager Germany & Scandinavia at Stichting MPS Group, Klaus Wagener, Managing Partner at BLOOM's, Jürgen Mertz, President of Zentralverband Gartenbau, Sven Hoping, Sales Manager at Pöppelmann, and Antonia Cox, Managing Director at POTTBURRI, will discuss consultant perspectives, current trends, pricing strategies as well as social media and influencer marketing. In addition to the supporting program, the IPM Summer Edition also has some product innovations in store.
What is the situation in the exhibition halls?
Sabina Großkreuz: The IPM Summer Edition occupies Halls 7 and 8. 220 exhibitors from 21 nations are taking part. The portfolio ranges from plants and technology to equipment and floristry. New varieties, environmentally friendly pots, innovative composters, peat-reduced soils, and even an irrigation robot especially for cemetery gardeners will be there. Visitors will find attractive floristry at the inspiration area of the Fachverband Deutscher Floristen - Bundesverband in the FDF World. Andrea Hölker: In the IPM Discovery Center in Hall 7, creative director Romeo Sommers has incorporated exhibitors' products into practical POS concepts. These include innovative concepts for urban greening with the participation of exhibitor 'Vergroen je Leve,' plants with added medical value - here exhibitor 'de gezoende Verleiding' is on board - and pots made from recycled materials in long-lasting colors, such as those from The Pots Company. In the showroom on the website, interested parties have the opportunity to experience the IPM Discovery Center digitally and to network with the exhibitors.
The fair is in the starting blocks. What else would you like to say to exhibitors and visitors?
Sabina Großkreuz: The fair offers real added value for the green sector. If you want to experience innovations and trends with all your senses, make new contacts and expand existing ones, this is the place to be. Andrea Hölker: We are particularly looking forward to the IPM Summer Party in the Grugapark on the first evening of the fair with street food and live music. We cordially invite all exhibitors, visitors, and congress participants to be there."
IPM Essen