Messe (trade fairs), Frankfurt am Main

Favorite thing: The Frankfurt Book Fair is held each year in October. They now seem to have settled on a rhythm of five full days, from Wednesday to Sunday (no more Monday mornings).

The first three days are reserved for us trade visitors, and on Saturday and Sunday the fair is also open to the general public. On Sunday the publishers are allowed to sell books if they want to. Usually the small publishers do and the big ones don’t.

The dates for the next few years are:

12-16 October 2011 (Guest of Honour Iceland)
10-14 October 2012
09-13 October 2013 (Guest of Honour Brazil)
08-12 October 2014 (Guest of Honour Finland)
14-18 October 2015
19-23 October 2016

http://www.buchmesse.de/en/fbf/general/opening_hours/

Favorite thing: At the Frankfurt Book Fair 2004 there were 6,691 exhibitors from 110 countries, spread out over eleven floors of five large exhibition halls. To help us all find our way around, there are numerous signs, maps and information stands all over the fairgrounds.

Each year the fair features a country or group of countries as guest of honor, with numerous cultural presentations in the Forum building. Guest of honor at the 2004 fair was the Arab World, in 2005 it was Korea.

Favorite thing: I just realized that I began training for the internet long before there even was such a thing.

No wonder I felt right at home in the internet from day one, as soon as I got connected.

Now for the very first time I am going to reveal my secret of the world's best internet training. The secret is . . . thirty-four consecutive years of attending the Frankfurt Book Fair.

How does the Book Fair train you for the internet?

1. Both the internet and the Book Fair consist of such a vast multitude of items that no one person could ever access more than a tiny fraction.

2. No matter what your special field of interest aka obsession might be, you will find so much information on it and so many practitioners of it that before long it will seem completely normal to you, and not the kinky aberration that your parents and classmates always thought it was.

3. You can learn how to navigate and find what you want.

4. You can learn not to let the masses of items and information overwhelm you.

5. The people are at least as important as the items on display.

There is one difference, though. After a day at the Book Fair, it's your feet that are sore.

Favorite thing: Here is a look at one of the 6,691 exhibits at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2004. This particular exhibit is at stand 131 in row E of Hall 3.0, which is the ground floor of the huge new Exhibition Hall no. 3.

By coincidence, this stand belongs to a Munich publishing house called Langenscheidt, which is a leading German publisher of dictionaries and language learning materials, among other things.

Favorite thing: Here are just a few of the 350,619 titles on display at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004.

By coincidence, the photo includes part of the English Network series of textbooks.

If by any chance you are teaching English to adults in Germany, Austria or Switzerland you might well be using these books in your classes. (If not, you can at least admire their pretty covers.)

Favorite thing: This was a totally new world to me... Exhibition with anything that you can imagine. I saw so funny fridges there, and fascinat toys that I wanted to be a child again. There where hundreds of exhibitors and all of them wanted me to be interested them goods. Unfortunately I wasn't a buyer, I was just a freepassager;)

But if you visit in Frankfurt while Ambiente, try to catch a ticket to go there. It's an marvellous experience.

Fondest memory: With 600 participating suppliers – and a constantly increasing tendency - nmedia is not only the oldest but also the biggest business-to-business marketplace of the industries lifestyle, giftware, living, promotional articles and toys and games in Europe. In addition, nmedia.de is the first in its industry in Europe to connect the inventory control and ERP systems of buyers and suppliers via the marketplace and to offer an integrated solution for online ordering.

Favorite thing: I had heard that Frankfurt was trade center of germany but I surprised when saw it for first time. Why? Please read below:

Fondest memory: Centre of trade:
The city's reputation is international. It is focal point of business, metropolis of commerce. Groups and multinational companies conquer new markets from their base in Frankfurt. Largest and excellent buildings belong to banks. Foreigners haunt so much. In certain period of day for example from 7:45 up to 10, the traffic is too heavy. Chain stores such as C&A roll out all over the city. Unfortunately, because of my camera lens limitation that cannot get picture in large area, I could not get fantastic photos of these buildings.