Does it even make sense to hold a B2B fair in the first half of 2021?
Milan, 05/03/2021
Earlier this week, the German government (more precisely, the conference of prime ministers with the chancellor) decided to extend the current shutdown measures until March 28. In a parallel move, this body has launched a five-step easing process and has announced to consider the opening perspectives for events on March 22 (1).
The opening strategy followed a public discussion in the days before the summit during which the demand for openings gained force. The Corona Monitor of the University of Erfurt (2), for example, found that at the beginning of February, that the ratio of supporters and opponents of the restrictive measures was still roughly balanced. At the end of February, significantly more respondents were in favour of returning life to normal (see graph). After the conference, the situation has become even more complicated because the compromise that was found angered all sides.
What does this mean for the preparation of a trade fair like Coiltech Deutschland, which is scheduled for 19/20 May?
Two months until the planned start of the exhibition is a short time. There is still a lot to understand and work out. For example, how will the epidemic develop, how can or must tests be included in the hygiene and safety concept? And what effect does this uncertainty have on the public's propensity to visit a trade fair in the first place?
First question: Is it sensible to mix with other people, especially at a B2B trade fair?
The results of the Corona Monitor (2) indicate that people tend to adhere more closely to precautions such as keeping their distance, wearing masks, washing their hands frequently, etc. in a business environment than in a private context.
It seems that it is less risky to visit a trade fair than to gather socially with friends (this doesn't mean that you don't meet friends at Coiltech - especially in the coil winding community the relationships often go beyond business). The practical experience and the observations at Coiltech Italia 2020, one of the few B2B fairs that was held in 2020, are in line with the results of this research.
Simple measures to ensure complete cleanliness and hygiene were enough to encourage all participants to put their own best foot forward to protect themselves and others. For example, body temperature was measured for all participants before they entered the exhibition halls; disinfectants were accessible and clearly visible everywhere, specially assigned staff made sure that every table at a bar or restaurant was disinfected immediately after the guest left.
With these steps, high visibility and attention to hygiene and cleanliness, ensured that all participants willingly followed suit.
These experiences have offered valuable insights for the preparation of the Coiltech Deutschland 2021 edition. The Coiltech staff is currently working on the further development of the hygiene and safety concept, and in particular, making use of the time until March 22 to see how they could include quick (self-) tests to make the participants feel safe.
Second question: How likely is it that a trade fair will be well attended?
No one can know exactly. In our daily conversations with visitors and exhibitors, and also in the emails we receive, we often hear that people can hardly wait to visit a trade fair again. Also in our study "Survey: Experience with online events", 90% of the respondents expressed the hope of being able to come to face-to-face events again soon (3).
On the other hand, there were significantly fewer visitors to Coiltech in Pordenone in September 2020, than in 2019.
A possible explanation for this is again provided by the COSMO Corona Monitor (2). Since October, respondents have been asked every two weeks which protective measures they had followed in the previous week. One of them: "Avoid groups and crowds". It is interesting to see that the majority of respondents have complied with this, irrespective of the strongly fluctuating mood regarding the current regulations of the Corona Ordinance (2).
Even a highly focused exhibition and conference such as Coiltech (4) is almost by definition a place where grouping and even crowding may occur. Therefore, it would be very understandable if a part of the public would rather refrain from visiting the event at the moment. On the other hand, it is up to the organiser to arrange everything in such a way that these phenomena do not occur. Anyone interested in finding out more about this can obtain information on the Coiltech website (5).
The only people who can know whether they want to meet at a trade fair in the first half of 2021 are the participants themselves.
That is why Coiltech is conducting a representative survey by telephone in March among the visiting companies. A series of questions on home office policies, regulations on business trips and receiving business partners, as well as, on trade fair visits themselves are intended to provide an overview. In parallel, the coil winding community can participate in the same survey online (6). The results will be analysed and published separately.
It will be interesting to see how the mix of helpful factors (think vaccinations, as well as quick (self-) tests) and challenging factors (think mutations) will affect the epidemiological situation in the course of the the next month. And how this affects the willingness to visit a trade fair.
A trade fair brings supply and demand together. Only if it can be expected that this will succeed, it makes sense to hold the exhibition.
Obviously, you can only hold a fair if the authorities allow it. Nevertheless, the criterion for the success of a fair is not official permission, but whether the main actors of supply and demand meet there.
If this condition is not met, we will not hold Coiltech Deutschland in 2021. In this case, we will concentrate our efforts on Coiltech Italia, which will be held in late summer, as it has been for the past 11 years.
#LetsMeetAtCoiltech #InnovationAtCoiltech #CoiltechItalia #CoiltechDeutschland
Footnotes:
- Beschluss: Videoschaltkonferenz der Bundeskanzlerin mit den Regierungschefinnen und Regierungschefs der L?nder am 3. M?rz 2021: https://www.bundesregierung.de/resource/blob/997532/1872054/66dba48b5b63d8817615d11edaaed849/2021-03-03-mpk-data.pdf?download=1
- The COSMO is a joint project of the University of Erfurt, Robert Koch Institute, Federal Center for Health Education, Leibniz Institute of Psychology, Science Media Center, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine and Yale Institute for Global Health. In addition to funding from the research partners, COSMO is financially supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation, the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society and the Thuringian State Chancellery. Further information on the project can be found here: https://projekte.uni-erfurt.de/cosmo2020/web/about/
- On the acceptance problems of online trade fairs and conferences in 2020: https://www.quickfairs.net/visita/?idf=96&id_zona=1&id_menu=23&idl=EN
- Visitor Profile Coiltech: https://www.quickfairs.net/esponi/?idf=99&id_zona=2&id_menu=6&idl=EN
- About organising a trade fair under the sign of Corona - hygiene concept: https://www.quickfairs.net/visita/?idf=96&id_zona=1&id_menu=29&idl=EN
- Survey questionnaire: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJufPPXAjJNVHC9OdxQVOo0YuU3uCVUTu4KKeXIaWBw1pQPw/viewform?usp=sf_link
- Follow Coiltech on LinkedIn: https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/27193399