The trade fair landscape is in the midst of a cultural change. Traditional formats need to be reconceptualized, and new concepts need to prove themselves. Messe München as a trade fair organization is evolving from a hall lessor into a globally active agenda-setter in terms of staging the future. A new role that we are happy to embrace.

But what will the trade fair of the future look like?
Seven guidelines point the way ahead:

Rapid, direct interaction between exhibitors, visitors, the scientific community, policymakers and the media is becoming increasingly important. This is the reason why in-person trade fairs will still be irreplaceable in the future—live business is the gold standard. New digital services and formats support community building, supplement the in-person fairs, and create necessary added value. However, they are no substitute for direct contact with other people.

Trade fairs are not “business as usual.” They need to captivate visitors and create unforgettable impressions that continue to have an effect long after the actual event. The experience creates a strong connection between exhibitors, visitors, and the recurring exhibition format. This requires new ideas and new sources of information that are ultimately generated through the networking and exchange on our platforms. Messe München’s strategic vision—Creating amazing experiences for your future business—says it all.

A world-leading trade fair for construction machinery and a leisure fair for consumers are two very different events with different target groups, which is why completely different approaches need to be taken in their conceptualization.

The trade fair of the future requires individualized, innovative concepts tailored to the needs and desires of customers, the industry and visitors. A prime example is the Open Space in the city of Munich during IAA MOBILITY. The trade fair was right next to where people actually live, creating vivid impressions in the process. A mobile future you can touch. The development and implementation of new concepts and formats have long outgrown the laboratory stage in Munich: trade fairs are already setting new benchmarks in real life.

When progress takes shape at trade shows, it usually affects more than just the players in a single industry. In a globalized world, megatrends such as digitalization, mobility, sustainability, megacities, and migration affect everybody. This is why opportunities for dialogue need to be created at these trade fairs that make all voices heard, including— and especially—the critical ones. The future belongs to all of us, and each and every person must have the opportunity to engage with innovations.

Citizen participation is a crucial factor to the acceptance of future trade fairs. Here, too, IAA MOBILITY employed a number of different formats to set new standards, in- cluding the Citizens Lab set up on Marienplatz. Any passer- by was able to experience and contribute to a citizens’ dialogue in front of Munich’s City Hall. A summit held on the fairgrounds brought together leaders from the business, scientific and political communities. It gave them an opportunity to talk about future mobility concepts and served as a platform for global debate. Active agenda-setting takes place at such summits, and social debates will be fueled and continued 24/7 on platforms that are active 365 days a year—both analog and digital.

Networking frequently provides an ideal opportunity for business. The trade fair of the future will therefore serve more as a meeting place for people than as an exhibition venue with multiple halls. Expo Real in October 2021 testified to the importance of in-person fairs. It was the first time that the European real estate industry came together again since the pandemic began, and enthusiasm for the face-to-face meeting was palpable at all times. The participants particularly appreciated the numerous high-caliber contacts. Even after productronica in November, visitors and exhibitors came to the same conclusion: there is no substitute for personal contact.

Multidisciplinary approaches are becoming increasingly important, as hardly any industry functions in isolation anymore. Everything is networked with everything else, with the corresponding effects. Global exchange of know-ledge is playing an increasingly important role. This practice is also being brought to life by the cross-industry women’s network “Connect Women” at Messe München. Messe München’s claim—Connecting Global Competence— formulated this years ago. The best in the world must come together to move the world forward. And a trade fair is the ideal platform for this.

Sustainability must not be a necessary evil at trade shows. Sustainability is not an aspect or a department. It is a state of mind. An attitude that is at the start of all responsible thought and action and permeates everything down to the last detail. Sustainability principles must be consistently implemented in every situation. This is the new normal.

By their very nature, trade fairs produce huge volumes of waste in a very short time and require exceedingly large quantities of energy. Nevertheless, climate-neutral trade fairs are possible and necessary. We aim to develop these with our strategic “Green Footprint” program. Our goal is to achieve climate neutrality by 2030 at the latest.

The future is shaped at trade fairs. This future is never personal; it always concerns a larger circle of people, and—in the case of quite a few topics—the whole of humanity. Trade fairs therefore have a global impact on society as a whole. This is the reason we will continue to expand our global portfolios around major leading trade fairs, focusing on China and India, and there also at several locations. In addition, we will promote cluster-driven, active, opportunistic portfolio management in other countries. Wherever opportunities arise, we intend to have them on our radar quickly and consistently take advantage of them.

Our platforms serve to gather people from all over the world in a single location. Each individual trade show should be accessible to the entire world from its location so that knowledge and innovations can be shared without wasting time. This is made possible by hybrid event concepts that enrich a strong face-to-face event with numerous digital satellites, ideally connecting people around the clock, every day of the year. Thus, a megatrend such as sustainability, for example, is not only strengthened but also nourished by continuous progress. A perfect example for this is IFAT, which has evolved into a global network that drives environmental technologies worldwide with 90 live trade fairs in Europe, China, and India.