Interview
Fairs & Events
Simeon Vlachou

Event Manager in an industrial company – Simeon Vlachou tells us about his wide variety of responsibilities. Simeon Vlachou works at WAGO in the “Fairs & Events” area.

He has worked in different agencies before, so he knows the difference between working at an agency and working in the events department of a global company.

What are your responsibilities in the Fairs & Events area?

The tasks are multi-layered and varied – that’s the beauty of event management. First and foremost, I am responsible with our team for the planning, organization, implementation and follow-up of our national events. Our trade show attendance are the focus of our technology – we also see a trend towards an increase in the number of conferences and congresses. We also support our colleagues worldwide with our expertise and passion as well as our exhibits and furniture. Above all, it is important to us that our colleagues can work as successfully as possible. For that reason, we are present before and during the events, organize the setup, supply the booth with materials, put the exhibits into operation and ultimately provide the final finishing touches to our company appearance.

In addition, we establish our expertise in designing events and exhibits. We work with other departments to gather the requirements for a targeted exhibit and implement it as a team. Event solutions are created, such as our 1.50 meter high 3D building automation model, the Mosaic event at Light & Building 2018, or the real-size WAGO train at Innotrans 2018. We try to bring together the needs of our colleagues as well as our customers and are not afraid to explore new technologies and ways of doing things – a wonderful example is WAGO Bloxx, which is specialized in gamification marketing.

We try to bring together the needs of our colleagues as well as our customers and are not afraid to explore new technologies and ways of doing things.

WAGO has its own department, which is only responsible for trade show construction. Why is this so important?

I hope you will allow me to the first shot: Originally founded for trade fair construction, the department has steadily developed and expanded its portfolio. We see ourselves, as reflected in our name “Fairs & Events,” as an events department. Although trade fair construction is still part of our services, we now offer the entire spectrum of services in the event sector.

The requirements and needs that arise in the course of the 140 or so annual events in which we are partially or fully involved vary in detail, but are at first comparable at the core. By bundling personnel, knowledge, materials and expertise, WAGO is able to deliver highly consistent quality at the lowest possible cost. With our exhibits and furniture, which we manufacture independently, we are able to provide all WAGO companies with a high level of technology and quality, as well as an identical visual appearance, of course.

Before your time at WAGO, you worked at an agency. How does working at an agency differ from working at an industrial company?

All of my previous stops were agencies. I'll try to illustrate the difference with three key and interesting points:

Efficiency/impact: At an agency, I am usually in the position of a service provider and stand more in the background. I develop proposals, provide approaches and advise, but do not make final decisions that affect the project or higher-level issues. In an industrial company, I am in the role of the client and at the same time responsible for principles, orientation, concepts, guidelines, corporate design, corporate architecture, etc. I am also in charge of the company's image. This means that every decision we make, every change of direction we take, every new technology we implement has a high impact on the overall direction in the event sector at WAGO, and thus also on the image.

Range of tasks: Our Marketing Department is larger than any of my previous agencies, since the number of projects is significantly higher in a global company like WAGO. At an agency, this means that you are more of an all-rounder, from acquisition, through the preparation of contracts, up to conceptualization and content creation, whereas in an industrial company you are more like a specialist, since many areas are covered by departments that you set up yourself.

Decision-making channels: Due to WAGO’s size and the many areas involved, decision-making channels become more complex. Communication and transparency are important in order to involve everyone. This provides various impulses and valuable feedback that can be taken into account early on.

What is your personal goal within the scope of your work?

Not standing still – responding to change from the outside and helping to shape it – setting impulses.

My personal goal at work is to put a smile on the face of our colleagues and customers, creating a lasting memory.

This goal stands for our entire team!

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