Making of a world class exhibition - Plastindia 2006

From the organizers view, Plastindia 2006 was a gigantic affair, which comes together just in time. Spread over 15 acres of land, app. 350,000 sq. meter of display area and beautifying 800,000 sq. feet of area, entertaining nearly 1,200 exhibitors from 35 different countries and around 200,000 visitors. To manage Plastindia 2006 is a very interesting and demanding task. There was close to 50,000 sq ft of advertisements, sale of 8,000 directories, and millions of dollars of business transacted in the six days. The unique thing about this exhibition is that it is done with barely a dozen permanent staff members and supported by 100s of people from the industry who offer free voluntary help using what ever personal means, recourses and most of all their time. This results in saving of resources to this organization. The revenue generated is used for promotion of the industries, educating the masses, developmental projects, etc. The exhibition is promoted by Plastindia foundation, an apex body of plastic related organization in India of different associations, plastic instituted, educational institutes and Export Promotion Council. This is rated to be the third or fourth largest exhibition in the world. The recent demand in Plastindia 2006 has found inadequate space and many exhibitors had to be turn away. All the hotels were booked and the rooms were inadequate resulting in room rates shooting up to 2-3 times and people had to manage with remote Hotels and Guest houses. The unique feature of Plastindia 2006 was the introduction of finished products exhibition called "Proplast", given a special status and propose to be held annually. Another special feature of recycling was exhibited and it was impressive to see how India recycled 60% of its plastic waste. Another unique feature was the Agriculture and an Agri Park was exhibited, showing strawberries being grown and it was an impressive display. The exhibition was inaugurated by Mr. Kapil Sibbal, Union Minister of Science and Technology; and the Vice-President of Dow Chemicals, USA and other dignitaries. The show ended on Feb 14, 2006, with a great applause from exhibitors and visitors. A very large volume of business was conducted and leaves one working for next Plastindia exhibition, from 27th Jan-1st Feb 2009 will be. It requires almost 2 years of working, planning, contract, preparation, etc. Nearly 200 different agencies are appointed to do various jobs right from clearing, humidification, electrification, advertising, designing, beautification, hall preparation, site allocation, carpeting, transportation, etc. Lal Singh Chairman, Fair Ground Committee Plastindia 2006