Preparations for IWA Toronto 2024

On Saturday August 10th at 10 am, Toronto, Canada, is waking up to what promises to be a sunny day. While the city’s residents begin their usual Saturday routines – half of them wearing Blue Jays baseball shirts – deep underground in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, a team of about thirty stand builders is hard at work preparing for the IWA Exhibition. Nations, cities, multinational corporations, national and international trade associations, and knowledge institutes like KWR. All are working toward a common deadline: the opening ceremony of the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition Toronto 2024, scheduled for Sunday at 4 pm. Following the opening keynote speeches, delegates will tour the exhibition floor and in doing so mark the official start of the event.

In late 2023, when the decision was made to participate in the IWA Exhibition once again, the clock started ticking for the KWR Communications team. This would be KWR’s seventh exhibition stand at IWA, following our previous participations in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2022. As in the past five exhibitions, we collaborate closely with Cindy Giling of SiXSense Live Communications. Given the success of our 54-square-metre island stand at the Copenhagen 2022 event, and to reduce costs, we decided to send the ‘old’ design across the Atlantic to stand builder Stevens E3 in Toronto. The third-generation family business Stevens prefabricated the stand in their production hall to ensure it met our expectations. On Friday, 9 August, they transported it to the exhibition hall and began assembling it. By Sunday morning, the “KWR & Friends” stand was completed, well ahead of the deadline.

Collaboration at the Core

The “KWR & Friends” theme was chosen for both the Copenhagen and Toronto exhibitions to convey a clear message to our stakeholders, and to visitors in general: our research is inherently collaborative, crossing borders and involving partners from various sectors. It is so for a reason: KWR & Friends continue to engage in collaborative research for a water-wise world.

These friends/partners include utilities, SMEs, governments, and other knowledge institutes, both within and beyond the Netherlands. The welcoming theme reflects our strong desire to establish new connections, expand existing networks, and develop new ones.

A Carousel of Serious Business & Fun

Participating in the Congress and networking at the booth is, indeed, serious business. However, maintaining a balance is crucial, which is why we also aim to bring an element of fun into our booth activities. In previous years, we organised the Water Quiz daily—initially in an analogue (2010 to 2014), and since then, using Kahoot. This year, at our stand in Toronto, visitors can enjoy the Water Mind game (think ‘Wordle’). The game involves a host selecting a five-letter word, which players must guess within six turns. It’s a game suitable for two players or a group. The first person to guess the word correctly earns a “Friend of KWR” pin (come to the bar and show your card).

Corporate Identity Strategy

From a communications perspective, KWR’s presence at the seven IWA exhibitions is the result of a strategic decision made at the highest level within our organisation. What do we aim to achieve in the world with our research? Who are our main stakeholders? On which platforms do we want to share our expertises and achievements? Much of our corporate communication takes place digitally through websites, newsletters, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Our researchers reach their peers through conferences and their clients through face-to-face meetings. However, at the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition, we bring our ‘home’ with us: the renowned KWR exhibition stand.

On the exhibition floor, we strive to stand out from a distance among the stands of other organisations, competing for the attention of visitors. Rising above all, you will see our fresh blue corporate colour, “KWR & Friends” displayed against a cascade background, along with the symbolic network spheres.

The blue-white visual identity extends across all communications elements. From hardcopy flyers and brochures to our social media campaign and the Water Mind playing cards. Our shade of blue is not unique, as there are many shades of blue on the exhibition floor, with Xylem’s blue being the closest to ours. Their slogan, “Building a more water-secure world,” resonates with one of our own: “Shaping a water-wise future through collaborative research.”

Welcome!

As we prepare today for the opening of the IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2024, we look forward to welcoming our friends—old and new—to the KWR stand, and to all the congress sessions where we will share state of the art applied research. Together with our Friends, we will continue to shape this water-wise future through collaboration, innovation, and shared commitment to the world’s most precious resource.