Dear Stephen,
I’m Vice President of Sales for North America for a European contract furniture manufacturer, heading to ORGATEC in Cologne and then to our headquarters. We’ve already checked which clients, dealers and design contacts are attending, and I have appointments and dinners arranged. I’m also looking forward to seeing overseas colleagues I usually only see on a screen. Between those commitments, I want to walk the show, see what other companies are doing and enjoy Cologne. I don’t want to come home realizing that everything interesting happened in the hall I never reached.
I loved your Salone advice about working the show and enjoying Milan, and I remember your NeoCon/Design Days columns about keeping “one eye open” for your next career opportunity. I’m happy where I am, but I still like knowing what is out there. Since you’ll be at ORGATEC, how would you approach the trip? What should I see, whom should I make time for, and how do I fit it together?
Signed,
One Eye Open in Cologne
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Dear One Eye Open,
Keep both eyes open. There is plenty to see, and you have already done the sensible thing by finding out who is going before you arrive. Now leave yourself some room. Someone will introduce you to a manufacturer you don’t know, a client will want to show you something, or a conversation you expected to last ten minutes will become the most useful one of the day. If every minute is booked, you spend the trip apologizing because you have to leave. I’ll be at ORGATEC, too, and I want time for the people I haven’t made an appointment with yet.
For everyone still planning, call your clients, your dealers, the A&D firms you work with and your end-user contacts. Ask who is attending, including colleagues from their European offices. A designer you know in New York may have someone in Germany you should meet. Ask for the introduction. Arrange to walk part of the show together or meet for dinner, and if you are hosting a client at your company’s exhibit, introduce them to someone from headquarters who can help their business. You don’t want to come home and discover that someone you have been trying to see for six months was having coffee in the next hall.
And absolutely spend time with your overseas colleagues. Dinner with the people who develop your product, manage your orders or approve your requests can be valuable. Get to know them beyond the Teams screen. Ask what they are dealing with, and help them understand what your American customers need. If you want more support for North America, bring examples and explain the business opportunity. Just let everyone order before you start listing everything headquarters has done wrong. You want them looking forward to your next visit.
ORGATEC runs October 27–30, and this year’s theme is “From rooms to relationships: designing spaces in an ever-changing world.” Relationships are certainly why I go. At The Viscusi Group, we are interested in the people behind the products—their plans, their concerns and where they intend to invest. A company may have a beautiful presentation, but I want to hear what happens after the show. Who is building the business? How are they supporting their people? What do they want to accomplish in America? That is where the conversation gets interesting.
There are opportunities here for independent reps, too, whether they are meeting European companies they already represent or exploring a complementary line. Ask about territories, samples, quotations and service, along with the product. Some European manufacturers also license designs or collections to American companies that sell them under their own brands; others have private-label or manufacturing arrangements. Ask how the particular business operates. For an American manufacturer, the next addition to a collection could begin with a conversation in Cologne. If something looks familiar, ask about the relationship before deciding somebody copied somebody. There may be a business agreement you know nothing about.
Haworth’s broader family of businesses deserves attention for how its products address acoustics, lighting and privacy within the workplace. Include BuzziSpace in Hall 6.1, C050, and Hushoffice in Hall 6, C058, and bring an actual project question. Look at how the products and materials work together. Hushoffice is presenting new finishes, but do more than admire the colors: go inside a pod, close the door and try it. Ask about ventilation, installation and how it fits into the space. You can photograph a workplace in seconds. Understanding whether someone can comfortably work in it takes longer.
Our client Kvadrat, the Danish textile and acoustics company, also belongs on your radar. Look for its materials throughout the show: TelaMia is being used to create Viccarbe’s exhibition space, while Humanscale’s TexMesh is re-engineered from Kvadrat’s Autumn textile for seating. Walk those presentations with a designer if you can. Ask what interests them, where they would use it and what they need to know before specifying it. You may learn something about their priorities that never came up while you were doing all the talking at your last presentation. For those following MillerKnoll’s brands, put Muuto on the list as well, with Thomas Bentzen’s Brink chairs and Studiopepe’s Coltre Modular Sofa among its new designs.
One special stop this year is the Eames Pavilion System by Kettal, in collaboration with the Eames Office, in Hall 10.2, N048. There are two walk-in versions and archival material to explore. If “Eames” immediately makes you think of a chair, spend some time with the architecture. Also look at ORGATEC’s “Your Perfect Day” themed routes and guided tours before you arrive. Knowing the furniture industry does not mean you automatically know your way around every exhibition hall. I would rather get a useful suggestion than discover on the flight home that I missed the thing everyone is talking about.
Make time to hear from people who design and manage workplaces, too. The announced speakers include Primo Orpilla of Studio O+A, Christian Dzieia, Senior Vice President of Workplaces at adidas, and Dr. Guzmán de Yarza Blache of JLL Design. Listen to what they are trying to solve. Then venture beyond familiar manufacturers and ask the practical American questions: Can we get it? When? Who installs it? Who services it? A beautiful European product becomes considerably less attractive when your customer in Dallas has a problem and nobody knows whom to call.
Now, about keeping one eye open. I have said for years that NeoCon/Design Days can be a job fair as well as a furniture fair, and Cologne offers a similar chance to get to know people. You can like your job and still be interested in another company. Introduce yourself, ask about the business and explain what you do without delivering your résumé over the appetizers. If there is mutual interest, exchange personal contact information and arrange a private conversation when it does not interfere with your responsibilities. Be discreet, speak well of your current employer and remember that people notice how you conduct yourself long before they ask whether you would consider working for them.
Be practical about the day. Group your appointments by hall, leave time between them and wear shoes you have already walked in. A trade show is an expensive place to discover that your new shoes are suitable only for dinner. After a good conversation, note what you discussed and what you promised. Photograph the company name along with the product. By the flight home, those twelve lounge chairs in your phone may have become one very confusing sofa. Follow up while you still remember why you were interested.
And don’t stop at the exhibition exit. Design Post becomes an official part of ORGATEC and idd cologne this year, and idd runs October 27–31 across the city, adding residential and hospitality design to the trip. Look at the program before committing every evening. Invite a client or colleague to join you. Seeing something together gives you more to discuss than asking each other how the show has been. This was part of my advice about Salone: leave time to experience the city around the fair. You are allowed to enjoy yourself on a business trip.
See the cathedral, and if time and weather allow, walk across the Hohenzollern Bridge. For a special dinner, I would consider Ox & Klee in the Rheinauhafen; maiBeck offers a bistro setting by the Rhine. Check availability and the menu before inviting someone. Enthusiasm is not a reservation. And choose somewhere you can hear each other. We spend enough time in this industry talking about acoustics to know when a restaurant needs help. Once you sit down, put the phone away, ask how someone’s business is doing and give the conversation time. You do not need a purchase order before dessert to have had a worthwhile evening.
Yes, there are parties. The official ORGATEC x WW-FESTIVAL PARTY is Wednesday, October 28, in Hall 6, with Alice Merton performing. Go and enjoy it, but if you are having a good conversation at dinner, stay for coffee. And wherever you are, resist looking over someone’s shoulder to see who else has arrived. People notice that, too. Keeping one eye open does not mean keeping it on the door all night.
Come home with something you can act on: an introduction for a client, an idea for your company, a stronger relationship with headquarters or a conversation worth continuing. Send what you promised and thank the people who helped you. And if you see me in Cologne, say hello. Tell me what caught your attention, especially something I missed, and where you had a good dinner. And hey, maybe I’ll run into Matthew Haworth again, as I did in Milan, and we’ll take another walk. He gets his steps in. I get a column. Everybody wins.
Bis bald in Köln—see you soon in Cologne!
Stephen