Yesterday students of Poznań University of Economics once more entered the exhibition world. Instead of a traditional exam at university desks, their task was to present their term papers in front of a jury composed of exhibition sector specialists. This unusual form of examination is the result of cooperation between Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry and Poznań International Fair with the Poznań academia. The presentations were prepared within the framework of the lecture International Trade Fairs and Exhibition conducted by Prof. Henryk Mruk, PhD, who is a renowned expert in trade fair marketing. Almost 90 students decided to pass the subject using this method and they had worked on their presentations in smaller groups since October. They had a choice of 18 topics closely connected with trade fairs and exhibitions or the possibility to suggest their own topic in this field. – We have had several years of experience in organizing exams of that type and we’ve had our ups and downs. If I were to assess the level, I think that this year it was the highest. I don’t quite know why it is so, perhaps the students of the University of Economics are excellent or perhaps they just had enough time because had been preparing since October. They are great in terms of social media and new technologies so all the presentations were really well prepared formally. Several presentations made a great impression on me, particularly those which referred to corporate social responsibility. They were about managing your own health or education of children in exchanging toys as a form of trade fair activity for the youngest. – Prof. Henryk Mruk commented on this year’s presentations. New technologies, emotions, professionalism Before announcing the results, Przemysław Trawa, the Chairman of PIF and the President of the Board of PCEI, thanked the participants of the meeting for attendance and their preparation of extensive materials. In his view, the presentations were coherent and to-the-point; their level was high and the selection of winners was not simple. – At first I had a big problem with hierarchy, selecting which presentation was better, which was worse, because all of them were coherent and thorough. – started Mr. Trawa. He also offered some practical tips to the students. The Chairman of PIF stressed the importance and role of presentations which must address a specific target group and which must be tailored to their needs. A different approach must be used to a participant of a contracting fair, whose aim is to close a deal – one should try to influence the rationale of the participant of such events. We are dealing with a different case in case of exhibitions or events for hobbyists. Such events are based on emotions and one should talk about them using the language of emotions. – Here, during a presentation, one should influence emotions, devote more time to gadgets and refer to the feelings of the audience and not to the mind. The audience must be seduced with the story. – suggested Przemysław Trawa. He praised them for their use of modern technologies and applications, using the cloud to store data, or tools for making presentations. Iwona Kasprzak-Ciesielska, the Marketing Director of Poznań International Fair, praised the students for their perfect timing (they had exactly 15 minutes for their presentations) and for very good preparation of visuals, which additionally underlined the professionalism of their performances. At the end she pointed out the need for better applications of market analysed or research projects. Winning presentations Just like a year before, the attendance was high so the students were divided into two groups assessed by two compositions of the jury. The panels consisted of the representatives of Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry, Poznań City Authorities, Meliński Minuth company, Poznań University of Economics, editors of Expovortal and the host of the meeting – Poznań International Fair. The jury chaired by Iwona Kasprzak-Ciesielska decided to award the following teams: 1st place – Fair of extreme sports by: Marta Wiktorska, Maja Strzeżyńska, Paweł Pezalski, Maciej Scheffner and Mateusz Ratajczaka, 2nd place – Investing in your own health by: Joanna Binek, Kasia Bargiel, Maja Mendel, Marzena Dworacka and Paulin Bubacz, 3rd place – Development of the Warta river by: Daria Sędzia, Joanna Pawlak, Magdalena Zamiara, Anna Słomka and Monika Paszke. The second jury chaired by Alojzy Kuca (Expovortal) awarded: 1st place – Investing in your own health by: Daria Drechnowicz, Patrycja Hajdrych and Beata Drozdowicz, 2nd place – Exchanging toys – trade fair for children by: Edyta Pacanowska, Gabriela Nowakowska and Karina Penkala, 3rd place was awarded to Paula Zawadzka, Karolina Wasielewska, Emilia Śmiech and Patrycja Wyciszkiewicz for the presentation called Mobile application as the key of PIF development. Both panels of the jury also awarded three equal honourable mentions. Congratulations to all the laureates. Source: Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry, photo by Ozdoba Studio