MIPS 2014: Spent

For those who are not in the subject: MIPS 2014 is a recent exhibition in Moscow dedicated to the latest technologies in the field of security, safety and fire fighting. The exhibition was held from 14 to 17 April in the Moscow All-Russian Exhibition Center. Just at that time I was in Moscow and decided to go to the exhibition hall, as they say "look at people". I did not have a specific goal, but still I hoped to find something really interesting and possibly useful for the development of my business.



Welcome to the hall "A"! The feeling of idleness and scale of the whole action has been overcome here from the first steps. Large screens, spacious stands, long-legged girls who seem ready to kill each other for the opportunity to give you a flyer and invite you to visit some stand.


So let's go through the hall. What strikes first? Zeal Incredible diligence of each of the companies with which they are trying to get your attention. Someone put a real barrier on the stand so that you can assess its quality on the spot.
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Someone has protected his booth with barbed wire, which is produced or supplied by his company. Some went the other way. Why lure a person with the company's products if you can offer him an exciting game? Tables for table hockey or football were installed at 3 or 4 stands.



We were pleased with one company that specializes in sales of CCTV cameras. They set up a table hockey table and pointed the camera at it. Anyone could take part in the real championship, which was broadcast on the big screen. There was even a local "toastmaster" with a microphone who commented on the games!


The approach of a company that specializes in video surveillance systems turned out to be very interesting. At their booth you could see cameras, televisions, on which they demonstrated the quality of shooting those very cameras and ... Chevrolet Camaro! Apparently there was too much space that needed to be scored with something, and then the guys did not lose their head and invited the transformer Bumblebee.


But in the first place in my “top” of stands is a completely different company. Honestly, I did not expect anything like it at all. On a fairly large area (about the size of two standard stands) one could see a rack with a bunch of leaflets, about three tables for conversations and several smiling girls headed by a very important young man. We had a very interesting dialogue with him:

- Hello, are you interested in something? Something to suggest?
- Hello, I would like to begin to understand what you actually do? What do you offer?
- So that's all written ... What do you understand? * Indicates a wall with logos of famous brands *.

Frankly, I understood it was absolutely nothing, but the tone of this guy really made me think for a second: “How am I still not familiar with such a well-known company?”. Fortunately, my confusion quickly passed and, thanking the aggressive manager, I went further.

In general, the impression from the main exhibition hall was not the best for me. I found nothing for myself except for Russian manufacturers / resellers. Of course there were worthy stands there, but, unfortunately, they were lost among the general screaming mass.

Halls "B" and "C"

Here things were better. Less pomp, more work. Most of the booths were of standard size and showed only products and services. It is worth noting that in the hall “B” one could meet quite a lot of Asian companies, and hall “C” in general was allocated exclusively to Chinese manufacturers. Basically, there were various surveillance cameras, smoke / fire detectors and other amenities that can be used in security systems.


If in the hall “A” mainly ready-made integrated solutions were presented, then here most of the stands were devoted to a particular area: only cameras, only sensors, etc.

* Advice for those who are going to participate in such exhibitions abroad. Find a local translator in the country you are traveling to. It is very important that the language spoken by the visitors of the exhibition is native for him. Some of the participants from China and Korea brought with them translators from Chinese / Korean to Russian. It was very difficult to understand them and many visitors simply did not have enough patience to communicate with such representatives.

In general, the impression from the exhibition remained almost neutral. Everything was done on a level, there were a lot of companies and a lot of people. It’s a pity, they all offered practically the same thing and it turned out to be quite difficult to find something really interesting. I attended a similar event in Russia for the first time. Seasoned visitors said that in previous years the exhibition was much more interesting. Perhaps due to the tense situation in the world, someone from foreign manufacturers did not dare to go to Russia, who knows.

Finally, a wish to Russian companies: Friends, learn modesty. She decorates. Try to make sure that your real goals and opportunities are not lost behind the riot of colors and ambitions.