Review: KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2007

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In May 2007, KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2007 opened its doors for the first time to industry-wide acclaim. The three-day event, held in Messe Essen, Germany, was the first genuinely pan-European trade event focused on self-service. 120 exhibitors, including IBM, Wincor Nixdorf, Kodak and Panasonic, presented their latest products and solutions to a total of 2,514 unique visitors, making the event bigger than any other related event ever held in Europe, and the total showcase area comprised over 5,000 metre squared, making it the largest self-service event in the world.
 
Comments from visitors and exhibitors alike described the event as a truly international show, and this impression was reinforced by the visitor statistics. Visitors from no fewer than 52 different countries attended, two thirds of whom represented their companies at the directorate or senior management level. What’s more, over 55% of the audience came from countries other than the one where the event was held. This clearly demonstrates a demand for a self-service tradeshow to cover the European market in its entirety, a demand which KIOSK EUROPE EXPO 2007 seems to have comprehensively addressed.

A wide range of exhibits were on display in the main exhibition hall, offering solutions for a wide range of different vertical markets, from the now-familiar supermarket self-checkout to kiosks made entirely out of stone! The event also saw a great variety of technologies geared towards developing the possibilities kiosks offer, from keyboards and printers to contactless card readers, touchscreens and kiosk software.
The Open Self-Service Solutions Forum, which was located within the exhibition hall itself, was especially well-received by its audience. Here, self-service experts introduced the essentials of deploying self-service projects. Topics such as "Does my Business Lend Itself to Self-Service?", "The Importance of Security" and "Finding and Binding Talents via Kiosks" were covered, among many others. Visitors commented that they particularly appreciated the unique 'walk-in, walk-out' design of the forum, which made it very easy to pick and choose which sessions to attend and when.

At the Self-Service Solutions Parlour, a a selection of self-service terminals was provided for visitors to try out the solutions for themselves. These terminals were clearly carefully chosen by the organisers to highlight the variety of vertical market needs that self-service can address. Solutions included an airport self-check-in terminal, an info-kiosk, a digital photo-kiosk, an example of digital signage and a supermarket self-checkout system. Particularly popular with customers was the pathfinding kiosk on show courtesy of the Fraunhofer Institute IAIS, which utilised advanced gesture recognition technology to allow users to navigate their way around the show.

Meanwhile, during the two-day Customer Experience Conference, which was held parallel to the exhibition itself, a range of in-depth topics related to self-service were explored in detail. Experts both from within and outside of the industry came together to listen to and discuss current and future trends in self-service, including "Living in Tomorrow’s Retail World Today", "Self-Service and your Loyalty Programme" and "Ergonomics in Self-Service". Delegates commented afterwards on the high quality of the presentations and of the conference organisation overall.
 
The show will return next year on 6, 7, 8 May 2008, and this time it will joined by DIGITAL SIGNAGE EXPO 2008, a new European event for digital signage to be held in conjunction with POPAI.

Feedback
 
"Congratulations to the show. It is very well presented and very interesting. We will certainly attend again next year." Klaus Albus- Multimedia Manager, Kaufhof AG

"The 2007 event was a great success and showed the huge growth potential for self-service across Europe."  Nilima Patwardhan- Marketing Manager, IBM