Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR, January 25, 2006

Background information about Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR

Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR has been organizing and realizing Group Exhibits at fairs like HANNOVER FAIR, CeBIT, the Shanghai International Industry Fair, etc. since 1990.

Arno A. Evers started his career with a British oil exploration company in the Persian/Arabic Gulf, later joining the German aircraft industry. From 1968 through 1985 Arno was involved in implementing the European Airbus Program in to the international market from their Hamburg plant. Mr.Evers last position was as Deputy Spokesman at Munich-based Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm GmbH (MBB, now part of DaimlerChrysler AG) where he served a total of more than 25 years before starting his own company, Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR. The firm has taken on the job of explaining highly complex issues to the public and the media at leading German trade fairs like CeBIT and the annual HANNOVER FAIR. In addition, Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR has spearheaded significant action for opening up Renewable Energy, Hydrogen and Fuel Cells market activity in China for international enterprises, including building up relationships with key individuals within the Chinese government, particularly with representatives from the Ministry of Science and Technology (M.O.S.T).

Mr. Evers main topic since 1995 has been the Group Exhibit – Hydrogen + Fuel Cells at the annual HANNOVER FAIR. Inspired by Reinhold Wurster, L-B-System Technique GmbH and Board Member of the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance (DWV), Arno organized the first Hydrogen + Fuel Cells Group Exhibit at the Hannover Fair in 1995 with only 10 German companies participating. In a short 12 years the Group Exhibit has grown from 10 to now125 exhibitors and Forum participants from over 32 countries (2006) and was honoured by visits from the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (3 times). Todays German Chancellor Frau Angela Merkel visited a former event organized by Arno A. Evers at CeBIT in 1992.

This Group Exhibit - Hydrogen + Fuel Cells has grown to become the most international commercial trade show serving the H2/FC industry. The Group Exhibit is created annually, free of corporate sponsors and governmental funding. In addition, there are no advisory, steering or executive committees driving the motivation of Arno A. Evers and his team; it is only thanks to the international exhibitors, Forum participants and VIP guests who attend that this Group Exhibit can be realized year after year. All organizational direction, modifications and novelties are all based on feedback from the exhibitors. It is a constant effort of Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR and his team to implement new ideas in order to improve the Group Exhibit with each year.

The Group Exhibit at HANNOVER FAIR is unlike the usual H2/FC conference with a side-exhibition. Exhibiting at the Group Exhibit means five intense days of exhibiting, 9am to 6pm Monday through Friday, at the worldwide largest trade show—the HANNOVER FAIR. At the conventional conference with its stiff “ballroom atmosphere”, one will find and meet only the 150-2000 insiders who have known each other for ages and are already aware of what the others are doing; new faces are seldom seen there. Such an event has only limited success because it lacks the established, 60-year platform of the HANNOVER FAIR. With 40,000 to 60,000 commercial trade show visitors, nowhere else will one find such a concentration of the Energy Industry. In addition to the “regulars” who are present every year, there are tens of thousands of Business-2-Business trade show visitors from all over the world at the Group Exhibit.

Only at the Group Exhibit can visitors find such a high-calibre line-up of exhibiting experts in one place. The majority are company founders, managing owners or heads of R&D departments. At the international Forum Program, interviews take place from 10am to 5pm daily on the center stage of the exhibiting area. Trade show visitors use the unique opportunity to enter into a direct dialogue with representatives from exhibiting companies, research institutions and associations. Daily Networking Evenings offer a casual and friendly atmosphere for all 400 – 500 attendees to enjoy dinner and music while making essential business contacts.

Additionally, the Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR Team strives to provide their exhibitors with the best possible service in order to ease the workload of exhibiting. Twenty-five hostesses set to the task of preparing 3 fresh meals a day and serving all the 400-500 exhibiting representatives and their guests. Free, catered beverages are brought to each booth throughout the day, refreshing the exhibitors and saving them the trouble (and cost) of visiting the main Hannover cafeteria. Networking Dinners, served in a beer garden atmosphere at the center of the Group Exhibit, remain the perfect finishing touch of each fair day. An Exhibitors Lounge, including computers, fax machines, telephones and free Internet access, makes staying in touch with headquarters and other business partners more convenient. Meeting rooms for business deals and longer discussions are at their disposal with all necessary presentation tools such as video projectors, televisions and laptops. While other conferences may charge for such additional services, cleaning, storage and security are all part of the Full Service Package.

No where else can one find such a unique and comprehensive website as that of Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR, www.hydrogenambassadors.com. At the annual April Hannover Fair, every single fair day of the Group Exhibit is photo-documented, edited and posted online before the next fair day even begins! The 25-person Group Exhibit Internet and Media Team, hired especially for this one-week event, dedicates their day to taking pictures of exhibitors, commercial visitors, international delegations and politicians, as well as making 3D pictures and videos for an online Group Exhibit experience. In addition, the core Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR Team (composed of 6 persons working year around in the Starnberg, Germany office) spends the remaining 50 weeks of each year travelling around the globe, promoting the Group Exhibit and its recognized platform. Simultaneously, the Team takes extra time to fully Internet document each of these 20+ conferences on all continents per year, all of which can be found online. To provide even further service to the commercialization of the hydrogen and fuel cell community, the 3,000+ page website is constantly updated with the newest information and professional graphics such as statistics of booming industries, precise charts of energy-related topics, articles and diagrams from Arno A. Evers’ international presentations, and links to other organizations and associations striving for the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cells worldwide.

Because of his dedication to organize the most international and successful event in the industry, Arno A. Evers could easily be named a Global Player in the field of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. He is a strong believer in the potential success of this industry yet he also recognizes the barriers that stand in the way at present. Mr. Evers is constantly on the road, promoting this emerging industry and the opportunities available at the Group Exhibit at annual HANNOVER FAIR. In the past 2 years the Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR Team has participated in 47 conferences around the world, several of which Arno A. Evers attended as the Keynote Speaker. In his presentations he draws a correlation between the work of the Wright Brothers and the present situation within H2/FC Industry:

In 1903 the Wright Brothers made the first flight in an aircraft powered by an combustion engine on board. They didn’t come very far…after a few seconds, with a maximum altitude of 2 meters / 7 feet, they landed at a distance of 269 meters / 882 feet from their starting point. If the Wright Brothers would have then claimed: “Now we have the solution! There will be worldwide daily flights from Singapore to Frankfurt, and from London to Los Angeles, transporting millions of people from point A to point B, over all the continents!,” all the experts would have shaken their heads in disbelief. The laws of physics understood at this time would not have “allowed” an airplane made of wood and ropes in 1903 to fly in an Airbus A380 at an altitude of 10,000 meters / 30,000 feet with 555 (paying) passengers on board. Therefore Arno A. Evers says: “Dear Colleagues of Today’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Community, with your present technology, you are exactly where the Wright Brothers stood in 1903. We can only hope that it doesn’t take our industry another 102 years to reach the future potential which is in hydrogen and fuel cells now well before us!”

The commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cells seems sluggish, especially considering its conception more than 150 years ago. Arno A. Evers says that new services, offering unknown convenience and usefulness will drive the demand and accelerate mass production. History shows that brand new services enter the public market as luxury goods at very high price, affordable only for the wealthy elite. If the service of product offers desirable advantages, demand will grow and production costs will fall, lowering prices.

“Earlier, who could afford cars, refrigerators, computers, or a cell phone that costs 3,000 Deutschmarks ($1,800 USD/ 1,500 Euros), a calculator for a couple hundred Euros/ Dollars, or a colour TV? All of these items were luxuries that at the beginning, only the wealthy people could possibly afford. Over time they became more and more accessible to people of average income. Today these appliances are used in every household of the ‘Western World’ (including wealthy Asian families), as everyday necessities. Because of this breakthrough, the mass market for such luxury goods was, is and will be exploding worldwide, without the help of any government subsidy. The implementations of such items were ‘Success Stories,’ because they put their finger directly on the human vein – satisfying personal wishes – and, not to forget, because the consumers gained - and are still gaining - individual prestige by obtaining these products/services. At the moment, such thoughts within the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Community are, unfortunately, still not widespread,” wrote Mr. Evers in a recent press release.

The Group Exhibit – Hydrogen + Fuel Cells is an extension of Arno A. Evers’ passion. “He who stays on the ball, who pursues research and development worldwide, who is fully involved and consistently proposing new ideas, only he can convince others to join in his campaign. In my case, it is two-fold: first, the implementation of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the real world and second, the annual Group Exhibit in Hannover.” With this recipe for success, Arno binds and builds up further know-how of the H2/FC Industry at the Hannover Fair, year after year. Despite the drop off in exhibition participation in other places, his Group Exhibit in Hannover has continued at the same solid level of success for over a decade now.

Arno A. Evers FAIR-PR
Achheimstr. 3 * 82319 Starnberg * Germany
tel.: +49 (0) 8151 99892 3
fax.: +49 (0) 8151 99892 43
e-mail: arno@hydrogenambassadors.com
https://www.hydrogenambassadors.com
Always remember: Hydrogen & Fuel Cells are
the future - We show it at the Hannover Fair!
- Go to where the Market is! -