So no trauma at Bauma... (groan)

I was a Bauma virgin, and rather daunted by the prospect of this orgy of construction plant and equipment: 3,420 exhibitors, 140 acres and over half-a-million visitors; literally ‘The Biggest Show in the World’.

After six days on the former airport site in Munich, I have to say that I loved it. Excessive? Yes. Ridiculous? Sometimes. Amazing? Totally.

Standing among dancing diggers, complete asphalt plants, and unimaginably huge dump trucks, it was difficult to comprehend that many countries, particularly in Europe, are in financial difficulties. With bright sunshine for most of the week and hoards of people swarming round the outdoor areas, the mood was one of confidence and optimism.

Who wins my award for the most ostentatious stand? Liebherr was certainly in the running, with not so much a stand as a small business park, complete with office block and vast outside areas. You could call it obscene, or you could call it an impressive show of firepower.

There was, of course, some naffness; gratuitous use of the female form is still evident. I wondered why Hynundai, with its impressive arrange of machines on show, felt that posing young women in very tight, very small blue shorts next to the kit would somehow make it more interesting.

Others had moved on. I loved the JCB ‘dance’ which mashed up machines, men and women. No hot pants here, but girls in boiler suits who could drive plant as well as dance, guys somersaulting on stilts, and people pyramids hoisted high into the air on buckets – all to pumping music and a recurring lyric of “black and yellow, black and yellow”.

Beneath the sparkle and the bravado, there was a little gloom in some corners; firms whose home markets had all but evaporated, with skinny order books, wondering whether they would make it. But the hardship has also given rise to some inspiring tales of entrepreneurship from companies trying to adapt their business models to make a way in new markets.

The thing about Bauma is: if you aren’t there, it says just as much to your competitors and customers as if you are there. It’s a winning formula for organisers Messe Munchen and I can’t see the excesses getting any less. The next one’s in 2016. Bring it on.

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