I loved Graham Pitcher’s intro to the New Electronics email newsletter, where he asks why German trade shows are so successful, whereas those in the UK [and in many other countries] struggle. He asks:
Is it because engineers have too much work? Do they not care about topping their knowledge up? Do employers suspect their employees of ‘goofing off’ if they do go? And do prospective exhibitors back off because they believe they’ll be taking most of their freebies back to the office?
I’d love to know what you think: do British engineers really have more work than their counterparts in Germany, or is there another reason for them to stay in the office rather than attend a show?
The difference is that German engineers have a different attitude – they all want to improve their knowledge. This difference shows in many ways such as a German engineer will read a microprocessor manual before even starting a project – his British equivalent would look on reading the manual a a slur on his capbility (think of flat pack furniture and how people boast I never looked at the instructions until afterwards) . I work for a German company and sell to British designers and I never cease to be amazed by the difference. Our customers take design decisions without fully exploring the probable impact and then wonder why the project fails several months later. This has been repeated so many times I have stopped keeping a record.
That’s an interesting point of view Barry. I do believe that German engineers have a very positive approach to improving their skills, but I disagree with your picture of engineers in the UK. I’ve been an engineer, and provided support to many companies as an FAE. During this time I saw many great engineers who not only delivered successful projects on time, but also invested a lot of time (usually their own spare time) developing their skills.
Personally I think there are many factors that account for the difference between Germany and the UK, and whilst I am sure that some engineers can’t be bothered to spend time learning new skills, I think most UK events are less effective than those in Germany.
Naturally some of the blame lies with engineers themselves – the systematic approach of a German engineer who will typically carefully plan their agenda at a show is something British engineers would do well to adopt. However, organisers need to improve the quality of presentations and exhibitors should have more technical people on their booths to provide real value to visitors.
Look at a similar industry – IT. A number of my fellow students at university went into this industry, and I don’t think their attitudes to development are particularly dissimilar. Yet in the IT sector we see very strong events that attract large numbers of engaged visitors (and just like the electronics sector there are much bigger events in Germany). I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy the cliché of hard working Germans and lazy Brits as being the only reason for the different approach to trade shows.