End of Start-Up Nation seminar. First impressions.

Yesterday, 17 October 2018, I attended the seminar organised by Felder Gruppe Romania on Start-Up Nation 2018. I want to tell you from the outset that, for me, it was a great success and I will tell you why. On October 2, about two weeks ago, I published the first article related to the Felder Gruppe Romania initiative. It was more a presentation of an initiative, a test of interest. As we did not know how many people were interested, it was not possible to book a room that corresponded to the capacity. There were many unknowns involved. Nevertheless, the reaction of those interested was so strong that Felder Gruppe Romania managed in just two weeks to organize a flawless symposium, with no dead time, with "lively" debates throughout. And we are talking about the period between 15:00-19:30 when we were there. The symposium was over and people were still talking in small groups, exchanging information. Two breaks had been scheduled and, due to interest, only one was taken. Almost unbelievable to me. People were hungry for information. In just two weeks.

The quality of speakers and presentations was of a very high level. Silvia Băcanu from Intermind Business Consulting had not even started speaking when she was interrupted by questions. From that point on, the debate was at a very high level, with questions and answers flowing in quick succession.

After the coffee break, it was the turn of Stefan Udroiu from Banca Transilvania to answer questions from the audience. A high level debate, interesting and sincere analysis and statistics presented by the BT representative. It is to be appreciated that the less pleasant things that will be faced by those who will apply were also said. The idea was to see how together we can make things work.

After the only break it was the turn of the organizer to present his products. Paul Nastase did a very good job in my opinion. Besides the presentation of Felder Gruppe Romania, the team and the marketed products, Paul continued to communicate honestly with people, comparing Felder products with the others in the market, presenting the advantages that Felder has over the other competitors.

The symposium concluded with case studies on the experiences of those who applied for Start-Up Nation 2017. Even they were subjected to the barrage of questions from the audience. Their great merit is that they had a lot of humor and the discussions were very friendly. They are Marius Mihalca from Triple Wood, Tulcea (production of beehives) and Iulian Apostol - MDI Wood Ideas, Bucharest (furniture made of chipboard, MDF and solid wood).

In conclusion, I think that what Felder Gruppe Romania has achieved with this symposium is a great thing for the wood industry. Specifically, there are 10,000 eligible projects at stake throughout the country. Each project can attract up to around 44,000 euros. The better we communicate the related opportunities and offers, the more of the maximum EUR 440,000,000 we attract to the wood industry. This is why I say that Felder Gruppe Romania has helped us all by organizing this symposium and I thank them for this.

Talking today with Maria Arbone, Marketing Director at Felder Gruppe Romania, I found out that in addition to those from Bucharest and nearby areas, there were participants from Iași, Cluj, Dolj and Tulcea. Another interesting thing to note is that Felder Gruppe Romania is preparing to organize 4 (four) more seminars in different areas of the country. Now that's smart marketing!

We'll be back to discuss in more detail the conditions that need to be met in order to apply for this year's Start-up Nation program and other topics that were hotly debated last night.

Until then, see you on Saturday, October 20, at Wood-Mizer Customer Dayin Sibiu.