Your stand visitor at METS is purely trade. However, magazines are increasingly looking to METS as an interesting hunting ground for new products and processes.

The show’s press office is on the mezzanine of Hall 8 and should be fed with your press information, which can be displayed for the many journalists who visit the show from Europe and the rest of the world.

The constant question at METS is how many languages do I need to translate my press information into? Whatever your decision, you will inevitably annoy someone. German, Italian and French could be key, but what about Dutch, Spanish and the various Scandinavian tongues?

For most companies English alone will do nicely, however, to attract the eye of a specific country we would suggest a translation into that language is made available. This is especially important where a manufacturer is seeking to attract dealers in a target country.

We would always recommend translations of press material are done for European consumer shows into the local language: Italian for Genoa, French for Paris and German for Düsseldorf, etc.

And have your translation checked before you print your press releases. We are in an industry riddled with tricky names that may not translate well. So if you can, run the translation by someone who understands the marine industry as your release may use the correct words but not mean what you want to say.

We do not want to make an Italian journalist laugh. We want him to be interested in our product.

Have a good show and I’ll no doubt see you in the “Old Sailor”…

 Clive Bartlett is a director of Saltwater