Pskov and EXPO

Pictures from the exhibition

On June 1, the 11th universal exhibition-fair "PskovEXPO" opened in Pskov, where more than 100 enterprises from the cities of Russia, Belarus and the European Union met.

Two floors of the Mashinostroitel stadium and the area in front of the entrance were literally littered with exhibits from products and perfumes to machines and equipment, and just as densely packed with visitors. Say what you like, but PskovEXPO has already outgrown the stadium format and has long been in need of specialized exhibition facilities that would help emphasize the presentational value of the exhibition, sorry for the tautology.

After a couple of hours of wandering among consultants and curious people, under the roar of music and advertising, after the repeatedly asked question “what do you expect from your participation in the exhibition?” and a somewhat smaller number of responses received, two typical pictures formed in my head.

Picture first. Pskovskaya

The dialogue below actually took place and is given in a literal transcript. But since it is like two drops of water similar to almost all other conversations with representatives of firms of the glorious city of Pskov, we will not name the participants by name. We are not animals.

So:

• Good afternoon Let me ask you: what do you expect from participation in this exhibition?

• Let's not have me! Now our director will come ...

• But how do you personally understand this for yourself? Here you are standing in this nook, what are you doing here?

• We present our products with a face!

• And why do you need it?

• ???

• So people come up to you, what do you tell them?

• Information that interests them!

• How did you prepare for this event?

• That's verbally not prepared! Texts not prepared!

• That is, you were waiting for someone to come up to you, ask, and you tell me?

• No, but it's our job, we know what to answer people. But reporters - no!

Picture two. Not Pskov

• Good afternoon What do you expect from this exhibition?

• Good afternoon My name is Maria Napyurkovska, I represent the Polish Consulate in St. Petersburg, Trade Department. The Pskov region is part of our consular district, and we have been participating in Pskov exhibitions for a long time. On May 1, Poland joined the European Union, and the border of the European Union is already very close to the Pskov region. I hope this will provide new opportunities for cooperation, because the experience of our border areas shows that these areas used to develop quite well in the past. There are certain funds of the European Union intended for the development of cross-border cooperation. As for the cooperation between Polish and Pskov entrepreneurs and the authorities, there is an agreement signed between the leadership of the Pskov region and our Lubuskie Voivodeship, there were exchanges of groups of businessmen, etc. I hope that the moment will come when we will be able to cooperate more closely in the economic field. Therefore, although there are no great successes yet, we are constantly present at this exhibition.

• Is this your first time at PskovEXPO?

• We are here for the fourth time. We consider it important that information about Poland is available here. Our database contains the addresses of almost 20,000 Polish companies. Any entrepreneur will be able to find a Polish company in his field of activity, with which he can at least try to start cooperating.

• How useful is participation in such exhibitions?

• I think exhibitions are very important. In any case, here you can get information that sooner or later will work anyway.

What conclusions will we draw? Do not even hope, I am not going to scold our provinciality and managerial enslavement. The thought of another. On the undeniable advantages of the economic approach.

Judge for yourself. Almost all the Pskovites whom I pulled by the sleeve tried to refer me to the higher authorities, who, of course, spoke about the company, products, goals, etc. in a quality and qualified manner - but this is if they (the authorities) were nearby. Otherwise - no information, one disorder.

At the same time, this has never happened when addressing guests from other cities. Belarusians and Petersburgers did not get lost. Why? I think it's just because it's expensive to bring on a business trip pretty young people, suitable only for handing out flyers.

This example clearly demonstrates how "intensification of labor leads to cost reduction and more efficient results." It can be inserted into a school textbook on economics.

Svetlana PROKOPIEVA.