News
July 16, 2020
Messe Frankfurt makes face-to-face meetings possible at its three trade shows
Messe Frankfurt has devised a concept that includes detailed organizational, hygiene and medical measures to ensure safe personal contacts. With B2B business, it is particularly important to establish personal contacts and discuss solutions as well as experience products at first hand; this is the only way to achieve business objectives. These aspects are therefore also the cornerstones of the Christmasworld, Paperworld and Creativeworld trade fairs.
The protection and hygiene concept will already be implemented at the first events in autumn 2020 and at next year’s spring fairs on the Frankfurt am Main exhibition grounds. This also applies to Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld. It was drawn up and approved in recent weeks together with the relevant authorities of the State of Hesse, and follows the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute.
“As organizers of the trade fairs, the safety of all exhibitors, visitors, partners and employees is of paramount importance for us. At the same time, we are keen to provide manufacturers and dealers with a great opportunity to relaunch their business with our platform. Thanks to the protection and hygiene concept, we are able to facilitate the personal contact that is so important at our trade fairs with the necessary safety. Because, following the lockdown, the need for personal encounters and physical exchange is immense in our segments and we are delighted to be able to make this possible again,” said Julia Uherek, group show director consumer goods for Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH.
Messe Frankfurt protection and hygiene concept
The physical distancing rules entail a redesign of the exhibition halls and stands: accordingly, stands must have a minimum size of 18 square meters to maintain a safe distance of 1.5 meters between exhibitors and visitors and between visitors themselves. In addition, some aisles between the stands will be significantly widened to create five-meter-wide boulevards that can be used for two-way visitor traffic. Narrower aisles with a width of three meters will be used for one-way visitor traffic.
Stand construction also needs to be adapted to comply with the rules on hygiene and keeping a safe distance. This can be achieved by reducing the amount of space required for presentation areas and shelving – thus allowing more visitors to access the stand simultaneously. Other possible solutions are meeting tables with the required seat spacing or transparent partition walls. To make it as easy as possible for exhibitors to implement these new regulations, Messe Frankfurt is offering prefabricated stand construction concepts for the 2021 events that take all the measures into account.
Disinfectant dispensers are provided throughout the entire exhibition grounds, at the entrances and exits and in the halls to ensure comprehensive hygiene. Contact surfaces such as counters, tables, showcases, displays and exhibits are regularly cleaned and disinfected after visitor changeover. High-traffic areas on the site are cleaned more frequently and intensively by the service staff.
Exhibitors and visitors to the fair are required to register in full, including a self-declaration of their current health status. To ensure the tracking of all participants, tickets are only valid on certain days. Online tickets enable full electronic registration as well as contactless payment and access.
Protection and hygiene concept continuously under revision
“We are very pleased to have elaborated a concept in agreement with the authorities that enables us to carry out trade fairs safely and in this way make personal meetings in Frankfurt am Main possible once again. In doing so, we are offering international industries a business platform with which they can initiate business contacts for 2021,” said Julia Uherek.