The 43rd Motek runs from 6 to 8 October 2026 in Stuttgart. Three days, a strictly professional audience and an exhibitor field that spans feeding technology, joining processes and industrial robotics. Deals are rarely closed on the stand itself: what happens here are conversations that turn into projects months later.
An audience that tests technology
Motek is the international trade fair for production and assembly automation, organised by P. E. Schall GmbH & Co. KG. Bondexpo for adhesive bonding technology runs in parallel, and both fairs share the grounds of Messe Stuttgart. The people walking the aisles are production planners, design engineers, plant managers and buyers with a technical background.
That shapes every conversation. Visitors arrive with a defined task: shorten a cycle time, automate a handling step, replace a testing station. They expect answers at engineering level and can tell within seconds whether someone on the stand genuinely understands the application.
For your trade fair booth this means substance beats staging. A running exhibit, an honest cycle time figure and a contact who knows the limits of their own system carry more weight than any polished wall. The stand provides the frame, your team provides the content.
Your stand team is the real exhibit
Start staffing with numbers rather than instinct. Across three fair days and roughly eight opening hours, each team member spends about 24 hours on the stand. A qualified first conversation at Motek typically takes 15 to 30 minutes, because technical boundary conditions get clarified on the spot. That tells you how many contacts per person are realistic, and from there how large the team should be.
Mix the roles deliberately. Sales qualifies and categorises, an application engineer answers detail questions on grippers, interfaces or control systems, and a third person keeps the stand running: refreshments, tidiness, easing the queue at the exhibit.
Define in advance what counts as a good contact. Three or four qualifying questions are enough: which application, which time horizon, which budget is allocated, who else decides. Asking these during the conversation sorts your leads while you are still on the stand and saves weeks of follow-up work.
Plan shifts with real breaks. Six hours without a pause produce shallower conversations by the afternoon. Two shifts per day with a clean handover keep the quality high through Thursday afternoon, which is often when the calmest and most productive conversations happen.
Lead capture that supports the conversation
Capture works when it stays subordinate to the conversation. At Motek most discussions take place standing in front of a running machine, so every entry that takes longer than a minute costs attention.
A short digital form on a tablet has proven itself: few mandatory fields, one generous free text field for the application. The organiser usually provides a lead system with badge scanning. Check the exhibitor portal early to see which option is available and in which format the data can be exported.
Consent is central. Record contact details visibly and in the presence of the visitor, explain in one sentence what you will use the information for, and obtain agreement actively. A short notice on the tablet that the visitor reads along is usually enough. This builds trust and keeps your later outreach legally clean.
The most valuable part of a lead rarely sits in the mandatory fields. It sits in the note. "Looking for a feeding solution for parts under five grams, series start in Q3, plant manager involved in the decision" is worth more than ten business cards. Reserve space for it and fill it in right after the conversation, while the details are still fresh.
The two weeks after teardown
The return on a trade fair is earned after the fair. Agree the follow-up plan before the first crate is packed, and block the time in the calendars of everyone involved.
A staggered approach works well. A contacts with a concrete project receive a personal message within 48 hours that refers to the conversation and proposes a meeting. B contacts get documentation on the application they mentioned during the first week. C contacts move into the distribution list for your next technical article.
Transfer leads into the CRM daily rather than packing a stack of cards on the final day. Twenty minutes each evening are enough, and at the end of the fair you hold a clean list instead of an open task.
Measure the outcome with figures you can collect again next year: total contacts, qualified contacts, quotations generated, order value after twelve months. Those four numbers make the next Motek appearance predictable and internal budget approval considerably easier.
What the stand contributes
Layout can actively encourage conversation. At Motek, open corners where the exhibit runs visibly from the aisle work well, with a quieter zone behind for going into depth. Two or three seats are often sufficient; a closed meeting room pays off from a medium stand size upwards.
Plan the technical side early: power and compressed air for the exhibit, a lockable storeroom for samples and coats, a shelf with charging points for tablets. Anyone demonstrating a machine also allows for a safety distance to the aisle.
Because Motek takes place annually, a modular exhibition stand pays for itself quickly here. The same structure carries new graphics and a new exhibit the following year. Our overview of exhibition stand cost shows how that affects the budget.
Follow-up counts for more than floor space
Motek rewards exhibitors who can explain their technology and treat the contact seriously afterwards. A clearly staffed stand, lean consent based lead capture and a binding follow-up plan count for more than any extra square metre. You will find the dates and further editions in our trade fair calendar. When you plan your appearance in Stuttgart, we are happy to discuss layout, exhibit area and schedule with you.