No question in-person trade events have a future, and will continue to be important for the industry – especially when events choose to keep the digital element low-key – but Frankfurt 2022 suggests the New Normal is nowhere near the Old Normal when it comes to trade events.
With winter approaching and Covid infections in Germany rising (80k cases per day and a 125% mortality increase) amid an economic crisis the numbers from Frankfurt this week are impressive.
While 40% fewer visitors than in 2019, still Frankfurt pulled in a 180,000 strong crowds, with trade visitors just ahead of public footfall.
As a trade event therefore Frankfurt holds its crown as the world’s biggest book fair, with 87,000 trade attendees. As a public event – not something Frankfurt aims to be – the 87,000 still makes US and UK events look tame, but barely moves the needle compared to the bigger public-facing book fairs like the imminent Sharjah event, where footfall is measured in millions.
The Buchmesse press release focuses on the positives, with the understandable stress on reminding everyone how important face-to-face meetings are.
And no question that, for those able to attend, face-to-face meetings are important. But even here, much of the Buchmesse, like other trade events, is about sitting in halls listening to invaluable presentations but where the in-person element is not as all-important as the event organiser would have us believe.
Yes, if the presentation is not being recorded on livestreamed (for which there are no excuses in this day and age) then obviously you need to be there. But otherwise, unless you’re one of the lucky few that gets direct rapport with the speakers, being there is, so to speak, neither here nor there.
Trade debates are not concerts. Being in the same hall as PRH CEO Markus Dohle confers no advantage over watching the panel debate or interview from a livestream on the laptop.
Of course being there offers a networking opportunity afterwards, along with all the social niceties that accompany any trade event.
No question in-person trade events have a future, and will continue to be important for the industry – especially when events choose to keep the digital element low-key – but Frankfurt 2022 suggests the New Normal is nowhere near the Old Normal when it comes to trade events.
The public may be willing: Spain’s Madrid Book Fair topped 3 million visitors this year, while Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh International Book Fair pulled in 1 million visitors just a few weeks ago.
But the trade has learned lessons from the Covid crisis.
One being that being there is no longer as essential for the industry as we once thought.
As the Frankfurt travellers return home and the returns are stacked against the costs of the in-person engagement, the big question will be how much extra value Frankfurt in-person delivered in 2022 compared to 2021 and 2020.
