Back in time - our first IFA 2004

It is still not officially announced through the media networks - but faytech will be back 2018 on the IFA with something really revolutionary in a very special role - not just on product side but also on the booth design. Stay connected and don′t miss the news.

Because everybody around us like employees, partners, marketers, web programmers, developers are crazy busy in preparation of the exhibition my wife and I had a kind of flashback and talked today on our way back from work about our first IFA 2004.

Time is flying by, 14 years ago we were just one year together and I had the dream of building up a great multimedia device. Basically, we were just 10 years too early with our ideas of internet on TV, Online-videos, TV-recorder, picture+movie player, etc. all easy usable in one device. By today, still this product is the one I am most proud off in my career (we did it as OEM) - especially because we build it up with more or less no budget but incredible enthusiasm. From technology-view, definitely, we will present this year more revolutionary products - but this product was 2006 and what we do today is another story.

2004 we were at this stage and I was the founder of a company more or less just existing of Hansj?rg and myself as managers and the rest trainees, volunteers, students, friends, working on a 5K-10K USD overall monthly budget which we had to earn on a daybyday basis. The IFA 2004 I will never forget. Like always for all my exhibitions (also everyone coming after) we were late, products were not finished and we were under pressure like hell. At 1am in the night (33h before opening of the show) Alex started with his girlfriend from Neumarkt to Berlin, a four hours ride by car. Fan and myself as well as Christoph and his girlfriend just started somewhere before 2am from Neumarkt. Until then, we worked on our devices and prepared everything for the show...Sometime we lost contact to Alex and we were deeply afraid that he crashed his car because he felt asleep...

Anyhow, all arrived safe, we all slept at Sebastians house for the time of the IFA in Berlin (no, it was and is not a big house...) and at 8.30am we started to go to the IFA and we had one working day to build up the booth. Nothing worked like planned but in the evening all products were installed and somewhere in the late evening I started to put a satellite dish on one of the rooftops of the exhibition building (I guess that was forbidden) and then I relocated à 300m satellite cable under the finished layed out floor of the IFA - in a 40cm gap between the base and the ground floor people worked/walked on. Crazy dirty, crazy dark and one of the most humiliating things I did for several hours. Alex′s girlfriend showed me through small gaps in the floor the way by à flashlight... At 5o′clock in the morning we received a satellite signal on our mediacenters and still today it is for me a miracle that this worked (when I remember right just by adding one signal-amplifier).

Totally exhausted but totally flashed by excitement we had afterwards a great IFA and we were the only company on the show with a satellite signal (at least following my best knowledge). Sorry, this is the only article related (8th paragraph, we presented also Marco′s device) I shortly found and I am super sad that I don′t have pictures anymore about it...hard to imagine but that time people really used mobile phones without cameras ;)

What is the moral of this story? Success does not come easy unless you are super lucky. And things which look easy may have an incredible hard work behind. And this is now the connection to what we present 2018 - the product we will present as manufacturer we work already on since 2012 - but this story will soon tell another person because he even works on it longer. And just this invested time makes the product so special and like it is now- and we are super happy and proud that we are the first in the world who can present it 2018 on the IFA.

Experiences like this from the IFA 2004 (and there are many more stories to tell from other exhibitions) are the reason why I am not on the IFA 2018. When I am on an exhibition I want to have it perfect or I am frustrated. And because my aims are always slightly above my abilities (that is perfect to keep you always busy) I always worked like hell for exhibitions I attended and still, I were normally not satisfied about the outcome. So I tried to stay as far as possible away from any exhibition the last years ;o) And for sure, everything changes when you have a beloved family at home. Anyhow, based on what I see what is now invested for the IFA 2018, I feel a little bit sad that I am not full part and in the middle of what is happening. But I am sure, our this time organization team will have a lot of stories to tell later. I am looking forward to hear their tellings!

Thanks for reading and the best luck to anyone who has to organize an exhibition and overtakes personal responsibility to make the exhibition the best possible exhibition for the budget and company behind.

Regards

Arne

Managing founder of faytech