2nd ESTO Congress Lausanne
The 2nd ESTO Congress took place in Lausanne, Switzerland – the Olympic City capital and home to many European and International Sports Governing bodies.
A well attended Congress took part in an action-packed day full of diverse presentations from a variety of industry respected speakers. For example Mr Simon van de Vrande from ECRA who spoke knowledgeably on the opportunities for CE marking within the synthetic turf industry, and Mr David Morris, from CIRFS who presented on Anti-Dumping legislation. Other very important presentations came from Alastair Cox, Eric Faivre d’Arcier regarding TC217 and the conclusion of the Lisport testing. Other important subject matters included an update from the International Rugby Board (Steve Griffiths), Opportunities with the European Union (Timme Bertolt Dossing, Cabinet DB) and John Nash from AMI Consulting on why regulation and compliance are essential for the synthetic turf market
After a hearty welcome to the city by Chief Sports Technology officer, Philippe Rupp, Congress listened with interest to a detailed account of ESTO activities over the past 12 months, supported by an informative powerpoint presentation by the Executive Chairman, Nigel Fletcher. The first ESTO Annual Report was well received and provided an essential reference tool to members and also underlined the fact that the organisation continues to be actively engaged in the promotion of synthetic turf.
The first ESTO bespoke Landscape Brochure was also give to the members at this point, offering a mainly pictorial presentation on how the use of synthetic turf can expand into this market sector.Furthermore the official announcement of the launch of the ESTO University and Research Cente, which will be an important development medium term.
The decision was announced to concentrate the future efforts of the ESTO into marketing and research. Decisions were made concerning future ESTO Committees and Working Groups and the strong focus on membership input was once again emphasised. Executive Chairman, Nigel Fletcher presented the ESTO guide for public procurement for EU public bodies to assist these organisations in making the right decisions. This will be a major development and communication in the immediate future
The event was ably compered once again by Robin Russell, and the day closed with an evening dinner at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. The next ESTO congress will take place in Brussels, Belgium with Congress now being compulsory attendance for all members.
