Steady audience – International participation at the Association World

Successful annual conference 2009

According to the organizers approximately 3100 conference attendees and fair visitors attended the annual conference, which took place in Wiesbaden from November 4-6, 2009. With this result the tekom annual conference and fair confirmed its position as international top event for technical communication and information development.

Although the number of participants decreased slightly as a result of the current  financial and economic crisis, Dr. Michael Fritz, tekom’s managing director, still considers the conference on the upswing: “We did expect a decline with regard to the number of participants beforehand. However, we were pleasantly surprised that it was rather moderate. It seems that our event concept shows its strengths in this crisis.”
 

The international orientation of the conference is undoubtedly among these strengths. The number of foreign conference attendees has grown steadily over the last years. This year the organizers succeeded to bring together, for the first time, trade associations from all over the world at a joint booth. In this new Associations World attendees from industrial enterprises and service providers had ample opportunities to get in contact with experts from associations from Europe, China, India, South Korea and Japan. Many German companies are expanding into these markets and are thus focussing on the localization of their products and technical documentation.

The lecture program also showed a clear international orientation. More than 30 percent of the roughly 200 lectures, presentations, and workshops were held in English.
 

Dokupreis - Eight companies receive award

Traditionally the tekom awards the Dokupreis during its annual conference. This renowned prize is awarded annually to excellent instruction and operating manuals and software help tools. The prize winners are determined through a comprehensive testing process, which in this year involved 50 independent authorized experts.
 

Trade fair as a hub

Parallel to the lecture program 187 companies presented new software products and editiorial services at the tekom trade fair. This year the tekom provided an enhanced fair concept, which allowed the exhibitors to present their expertise not only in tool presentations, but also in industrial lectures and technology panels. With this new concept the organizers would like to further promote the exchange between industrial enterprises and service providers.

Photos of the 2009 tcworld conference and tekom Trade Fair.
Conference program, including the speakers and exhibitors directories