increasingly offering these - also at major physical events such as Anuga, which was back at the start for the first-time last autumn. They combine the live experience in the halls, which everyone wants again, with digital participation and completely new services for our exhibitors. But also with a previously unknown reach, with online access worldwide and beyond the usual duration of the trade fair up to 365 days a year. Our strategic focus is on increasing the digital reach; hybrid events, also over longer periods of time, are the future. In this way, our trade fairs reach a worldwide audience of millions beyond the protagonists on site.


Many events have been cancelled and rescheduled since the pandemic, how has this impacted Koelnmesse? The trade fair industry is suffering greatly from the ongoing pandemic: we are now experiencing massive drops in turnover for the third year and high annual losses of up to triple-digit millions for the large companies with their own exhibition centres - as is the case in Cologne. And it is not only the trade fair companies that are affected, but also many sectors of the economy closely linked to the event business, from the hotel and catering industry to forwarding agents, stand builders and agencies. As organisers, we must now quickly prove that we can and


will once again fulfil our role as the engine and navigation system of the global economy in the future. We must restore confidence. I see it as our duty, especially for smaller companies and SMEs, to return their trade fairs as access to international business as quickly as possible. In 2020, Koelnmesse’s turnover was 94 million euros and


the net loss for the year was close to 100 million euros. In 2021, the provisionally determined turnover reached around 130 million euros. Thanks to the good trade fair results in autumn and the staging of the Vaccination Centre in our Cologne exhibition halls, but also as a result of significant cost-cutting measures, the loss will remain below 100 million euros. By comparison: In the record year 2019, Koelnmesse had a turnover of 413 million euros and made a profit of more than 30 million euros.


Could you tell us more about the plans for modernisation and new buildings by 2034? What does this hope to achieve? The fusion of conference and exhibition, the desire to stage topics with a more intensive variety of experiences, complex media technology and a modern IT infrastructure are requirements for Koelnmesse’s sustainable competitiveness and thus clear components of our Koelnmesse 3.0 investment programme. The Confex® stands for the realisation of future requirements for the trade fair business in a special way and, with its structural and technical qualities, will be a blueprint for trade fair formats in the post-Corona era and will decisively support us in positioning ourselves in the future trade fair world. Thanks to the flexible use of its conference rooms of different sizes and the interplay with the recently completed Hall 1, Confex® enables a combination of trade fair, congress and event and thus provides space for new trade fair formats. The special requirements of the events of the future in terms of flexibility, digital potential, efficiency and emotionality are met, and hybrid trade fairs with digital displays are made possible. At the same time, with the realisation of Confex®, Cologne will for the first time have congress capacities in the range of around 5,500 people and


KennedysConfection.com


“The trade fair days are still the highlights of my job”


thus enable the acquisition of new events for the location. It will also bring massive location effects for Cologne and the region from the sustainable securing of trade fair operations as well as from new events outside the strong trade fair periods with new target groups. With our Koelnmesse 3.0 investment programme, we are


consistently driving forward our goal of making our trade fair grounds fit for the future. In addition to the transformation of our exhibition grounds through renovation and new construction measures, we have also digitalised many areas of our infrastructure. With our logistics management system eSlot, for example, we have introduced a completely digital system that enables logisticians, forwarders and exhibitors to register their entire logistics traffic for the set- up and dismantling of a trade fair in advance. In addition to the booking system, eSlot includes the up-to-the- second interaction of a navigation app and digital traffic management. This enables Koelnmesse to offer just-in- time logistics and eliminates waiting times - previously an annoyingly high-cost factor for exhibitors.


What is the best advice you have received? This was not advice, but a clear joint realisation at the beginning of the year in the Koelnmesse management circle. Faced with the question of how we as trade fair organisers intend to continue to counter the pandemic, which is now entering its third year, our answer was: “Don’t dither, do trade fairs!” And we successfully held ISM and ProSweets Cologne at the end of January before anyone else in Germany. It was the right decision in view of the exciting trade fair year 2022 that is now coming.


Kennedy’s Confection March 2022 9


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