Our History: the Great and Vibrant trade Fair Stage

“The people at trade fairs always inspire me – this colourful mixture of greatly varying personalities and nationalities. From cleaning personnel to the German federal chancellor, they all play their roles on the great and vibrant trade fair stage.”

Paul Eberhard Schall

Bold, young, pragmatic and highly motivated! At the age of 23, Paul Eberhard Schall founded “Paul E. Schall junior Grafische Maschinen” in the southern German town of Neuffen in 1962. Business objective: sell graphic machines.

Initially, the young entrepreneur visited his potential customer in order to present the machines. But it quickly became apparent that the cost-benefit ratio and the targeted exchange of information could be significantly optimised for both sides, i.e. the seller and the buyer, by means of in-house trade fairs offered by Schall! These became a sweeping success as of 1963.

Think big! During the days of the German economic miracle, there was lots of elbowroom for enterprising visionaries. Already in 1966, Paul E. Schall promoted the first MOGRAMA technical exhibition for modern graphic machines at the Killesberg Exhibition Centre in Stuttgart, at which 15 renowned trading companies participated. 

Thanks to his inspiring creative spirit and compelling fascination in technology, Paul E. Schall soon evolved into a trade fair promoter – a role he loved: “Trade fairs have always been a colourful and lively marketplace, a sensual microcosm in which all types of people bustle around with the intention of haggling, wheeling and dealing, bragging, bickering, gossiping, selling and buying.” 

The success story runs its course: at the beginning of the 1970s Schall trade fair promoters reported record-breaking success at Killesberg with the FAMETA international trade fair for metalworking machines. 80,000 visitors came from around the globe to the event in Baden-Württemberg at the heart of the market for this strong export industry which proudly spread its “Made in Germany” seal throughout the world. The time was ripe.

With esprit, pragmatism, know-how and passion, Paul E. Schall performed freely, creatively and open-mindedly on the great and vibrant trade fair stage. 

Today’s international trade fair heavyweights emerged in the 1980s, namely Fakuma, Motek and Control, with which the trade fair promoters at Schall stir up the national and international trade fair scene and set new trends – always with their attention focussed on Schall’s all-round service for the best possible success of the exhibiting companies.

The founding of Messe Sinsheim GmbH in 1989 provided the company with its own exhibition facility at which its technical trade fairs and public exhibitions could evolve – in every respect independent of external influences. Ten years later Paul E. Schall was distinguished for his achievements with the Economic Medal of Baden-Württemberg.

As part of the Schall group, Messe Sinsheim stages technically oriented public exhibitions of national and international renown. In particular in the field of model building miniatures, top European events are promoted here.

Think bigger! As a globally leading trade fair, Motek grew and grew in the 1990s and the 2000s. Meanwhile, an ideal venue was evolving in Stuttgart for exhibitors and visitors, as well as for expansion offensives launched by Schall: the Stuttgart Exhibition Centre in direct proximity to Stuttgart International Airport.  Beginning in 2007, Motek, Blechexpo, Schweisstec and Control were moved to the new trade fair grounds, and sister trade fair Bondexpo was launched as well.

Celebrated with all due honour: Schall makes trade fairs for markets – for 50 years and counting! During the company’s anniversary year, the Schalls were able to observe milestone birthdays for six of their top trade fairs: 30 years of Motek and Fakuma, 25 years of Control, 20 years of Optatec, 10 years of Faszination Modellbau and 10 years of Blechexpo. Well done!

The best Motek ever took place in 2015: the globally leading trade fair set a new record with nearly 40,000 international expert visitors. On its 30^th anniversary in 2016, Control was distinguished with the premiere presentation of more than 150 world’s firsts, and thus lived up to its reputation as the industry sector’s number one event for the QA community – the ideal incentive for us.

Where does our success come from? The doctrine of the Schall group of companies: We provide our exhibitors and visitors with custom tailored service packages and, on the basis of our experience, we consistently assure that the right suppliers meet up with the right target groups. We make trade fairs for markets.

The personal dialogue is our speciality. An thus lasting and cooperative collaboration with the trade journalists paves the way for well-founded market information. Together we’re pursuing the same goal: successful encounters amongst exhibitors and visitors at Schall’s international trade fairs.

Our worldwide commitment as a service provider has top priority for our company. For this reason, we have our own representatives at our disposal in all important regions of the world. They support our customer base on-site – which is becoming more and more international – with Schall’s customary personal service.

Outstanding performance is distinguished each year at our international trade fairs: personally awarding prizes to entrepreneurs with an extraordinary life’s work is a matter which is close to our hearts and a special honour for Bettina Schall, managing director of the Schall group of companies.

We’re driven by the enthusiasm for our trade fairs, and by our close personal relationships with our customers. Our unconventional and spontaneous ways of dealing with the requirements of our exhibitors is our recipe for success.

Technical trade fairs are the ideal platform for the presentation of products and services, and for maintaining personal customer relations. We applaud the relentless innovative spirit, as well as the enormous qualitative and quantitative growth potential of our exhibitors!

Let the figures speak for themselves: a total of roughly 340,000 exhibitors from 120 countries meet up with nearly 7000 exhibitors from 40 nations at the technical trade fairs and public exhibitions promoted by the Schall group of companies. The events represent an excellent, efficient and lasting marketing instrument for mid-sized companies as well as for global players. We’re at home on the great and vibrant trade fair stage. It symbolises our roots, our passion and our future.