CSTB Report 03 February 2015News
Events
CSTB 2015
27 - 28 January 2-15
Crocus Expo Centre, Moscow, Russia
Report by Martin Salter
Now, in what I believe is it's sixteenth year, CSTB was, as in previous years, located at the modern and well equipped Crocus Expo Centre. Although some distance from the city centre, it is readily accessible by the fast and efficient Moscow Metro, in most cases only a single line with no interchanges required. The journey does take some time at a little over 45 minutes from the city centre. The cost is extremely low at approximately 35pence per journey, if the ten trip (including a bonus additional trip) multiple use card is purchased. The station is adjacent to the Expo Centre and only requires a few minutes' walk. For exhibitors not wishing to stay in the city centre and take the Metro journey there is a hotel (The Aquarium) on site. Reports indicate that it is clean and efficient but rather basic with many rooms having a view over exhibition halls it was once described to me as the only Shell Scheme hotel that they had encountered, but it is more than adequate for a few days stay.
Admission to the exhibition is free of charge upon presentation of the individual being an industry professional, very important as many shows in Russia are made ineffective by significant numbers of sightseeing visitors including school students and the general public at large. This year, for the first time, a small and very affordable charge was introduced to permit access to the conference; this did not seem to have affected the numbers attending.
The exhibition is spread over three large, interconnecting, halls that are broadly themed into three main categories. The largest hall is predominantly equipment manufacturers, system providers and software companies serving the delivery aspects of broadcast, cable and satellite delivery. The show, largely, does not cater for the production elements of the industry. The smallest hall is occupied by satellite (up-link) equipment and service providers. A third, medium sized, hall is almost exclusively taken by content providers and channel operators.
Observations
Organisation and Quality of Exhibition
As in previous years the organisers received very high marks for their communication, efficiency and delivery of exactly what was advertised and expected, this is reflected in the show survey forms. One IABM exhibitor commented that even items of stand furniture that they had overlooked to order were delivered very promptly after a request to the organisers office, which is very well staffed throughout the show.
The exhibit areas comprised some 225 stands. The majority of which were free standing and of outstanding quality and innovative design that would not in any way be out of place at IBC. These were complemented by a number of shell scheme booths of varying sizes, also of a high standard.
Some of the 225 exhibitors represented several companies so the total number of individual companies present exceeded the number of booths. A full list of exhibitors is available from the CSTB web site www.cstb.ru
All of the IABM members that I spoke to at length were satisfied with their participation and all indicated an intention to return in 2016.
An issue experienced by all non-Russian companies is the detrimental effect of the fast falling value of the Rouble (yes it did make hotels and subsistence 40%, or more, less than 2014) with uncertainty of being able to budget, in Roubles, for orders placed now in Euros, Dollars or other stable currencies with payment to be made upon delivery in those currencies but converted to Rouble within their own budgeting procedures. Maybe some advice could be offered by the IABM of ways for customers to either pay on order (with probably the need to purchase a performance bond ), at a known exchange rate, or to buy forward Euros etc. at today exchange rate. There is, however, optimism in Russia that the Rouble will recover, this in my opinion will not be for some years, and even then it is unlikely to return to its original rate of, for example 45 Roubles to the pound, whereas it is today at 102 roubles to the pound with only small and occasional downward trends. As an extractive economy, Russia's wealth is largely reflected by oil prices and the indications are that oil will not see prices of 100 USD per barrel for several years.
Never the less, this current economic problem did not seem to detract from the activity on all exhibitor booths, including international IABM members. Indeed, meetings were so frequent that in many cases multiple returns had to be made to IABM members to meet members and complete the survey. The majority of IABM members indicated that they were there to continue contact with existing customers and current contacts but few were expecting new business this year.
The current economic situation did, however, prevent any foreign companies from sending speakers to the conference and I got the impression that some had sent the minimum of foreign (non-Russian) staff as possible.
It was noted that a few members had not engaged the services of a local translator (usually language students). These are relatively inexpensive (as usually paid in cash, Roubles, to the translator) and essential as many within the industry in Russia do not speak English.
The only common negatives were that the large, self-service, restaurant, although improved from last year was still rather basic, but never the less of a very high standard of hygiene, but the food may not look so attractive . Regrettably, this is not within the domain of the organisers to directly improve as it is a part of the Crocus complex services. There is an alternative restaurant with the pavilion The Monteux but somewhat more expensive and far from fast service.
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