Forestry fair organizers meet in Vienna

Vienna, Austria (October 12, 2007) - Representatives from six of the world's leading live forestry and logging equipment demonstration fairs met in Vienna today to share information on best practices in organizing and staging demo fairs in the forest, to provide exhibitors with the best exposure while controlling safety risks.

"The logging and forestry community has established its preference for live, in-woods equipment demonstrations, and exhibitors have developed creative ways to display their systems," commented Per Jonsson, General Manager of Sweden's Elmia Wood. "Demo fair organizers recognize that we need to adapt to provide them with ideal display environments."

Thomas Stemberger, whose organization hosted the meeting near the AustroFOMA fairground in Heiligenkreuz, Austria, noted, "AustroFOMA is a chance to view equipment in Austria's characteristically montaneous forest environment, but all FDF shows offer unique terrain and forest industry operating venues."

The Forestry Demo Fair Network, formed in 1999, represents fair organizers in Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Austria, and the United States.

"We meet once a year to share best practices, give each other constructive criticism on our fairs' health and safety, logistics, and service", said Neil Ward, representing the U.S. In-Woods Expo. "We also coordinate plans to avoid overlapping show dates".

Member organizations believe foresters, landowners, and loggers worldwide will come to view FDF Network membership as a guarantee of excellence. Organizations staging live-action forestry equipment demos in a forest setting are eligible for consideration as members.

In 2007, the FDF Network's membership included:
" Germany's KWF (June 4-7, 2008, Schmallenberg)
" France's Forexpo (June 11-13, 2008, Gironde)
" Finland's FinnMETKO (August 28-30, 2008, Jämsänkoski)
" Sweden's Elmia Wood (June 3-6, 2009, Jönköping)
" The United States' In-Woods Expo (April 28-30, 2011, western Arkansas)
" Austria's AustroFOMA (October 2011, Steiermark)

You are also welcome to contact your closest FDF member for information in other languages or for further questions:

" KWF, Germany, Dr. Reiner Hofmann, +49-6978 785 31
" Forexpo, France, Vincent Coquillas, +33 5 57 85 40 18
" FinnMETKO, Finland, Erkki Eilavaara, +358 9 5660 0121
" Elmia Wood, Sweden, Veronika Albert, +46 36 15 22 34
" In-Woods Expo, United States, Neil Ward, +1 301 838 9385
" Austrofoma, Austria, Thomas Stemberger, +43 1 53 441 8592