ES. You have a diverse background in trade fairs, events, and logistics. Can you tell us what initially attracted you to this field and how your career path has evolved over the years?
Markus Metzmacher. Even though I would love to tell a story of passion and seeing fulfillment in the industry my beginnings are quite ordinary. I was sent to the conference and event center of the German Armed Forces during my military service and had to set-up and run my first event in October 2003. After ending my services, I thought to make good use of the skills learned prior and started to work for a stand builder and event supplier within the field of market research events for cars. I then decided to switch to an agency working for several event organizers as an agent such as GL Events, Reed Exhibitions, and BEC Bilbao to name a few. After being a service supplier as well as an event organizer it was a logical step for me to switch to the exhibitor side to complete the magical triangle of the trade fair and event industry.
Besides not having a real thing that pulled me into this industry, it is a certain trade show fever that keeps me inside. I like the ultimate deadline for a project so you cannot postpone indefinitely. I also like the human interaction and the joy these interactions bring to visitors, clients, customers, and colleagues.
ES. Can you share some insights into how ifm’s trade fair presentations reflect its innovative solutions and commitment to Industry 4.0?
Markus Metzmacher. With our presentations for innovative solutions and Industry 4.0 we always aim to be state of the art. This included use of touch screens early on, production of interactive presentation combined with ultra-slim OLED displays, transparent displays, forced-perspective LED walls, and videos produced in our own Unreal Engine studio. We want to display with our trade show booth that we a understand modern technology and can use it the best way possible. For Industry 4.0 we continue the storytelling by using connected exhibits to display the whole value chain of gathering information and making them useful. At the beginning of Industry 4.0 and our own software suite we used our own production facilities to display the accessibility of production data at any place of the world.
We realized during this process, that telling a story to explain a complicated topic worked way better with tech gadgets which remained on the mind of our visitors, rather than trying to copay every application there is. Yet, the application needs to be recognizable in some way, so the customer is not getting lost by an overflow of new things. Our presentations undergo the same process as our real products. We constantly check and re-evaluate our exhibits, eye-catcher, and marketing tools. When some of them get old-fashioned or they don’t work as expected we are happy to replace them with something new and more suitable for the market.
ES. What strategies do you employ to maintain a high level of engagement and interaction with attendees at ifm’s events?
Markus Metzmacher. ifm always tries to use technology and effects to catch visitors’ interest and keep them curious. Furthermore, ifm always rates engagement and interaction with potential customers very highly at trade fairs. Hence, the number of staff at a show is usually higher compared to what is the industry’s average for certain booth sizes. This is best described by the time of interaction spent with interested visitors which grew from 25-30 minutes to approximately 40 minutes. We try to use our trade show booths and installations for telling a combined story so we can keep visitors on the booth for a longer duration of engagement to explain the whole value chain ifm offers. This also includes multiple jumping-off points at several exhibits and a certain connectivity of exhibits or topics in one exhibit. Hence, ifm always thinks about the purpose and insights clients can get from visiting an ifm booth and interacting with used exhibits.
ES. With the increasing importance of digitalization, how do you see the future of trade fairs and events evolving, particularly concerning hybrid and virtual formats?
Markus Metzmacher. I think we did get a good grasp of future iterations of the trade show industry through forced hybrid and virtual formats during Covid-19. While I am not an advocate of “old is always better” it feels that the human interaction is something the alternative formats cannot provide in a proper manner (yet). Seeing also that virtual events don’t really benefit the growth of sustainability within the trade show sector I have doubts that a replacement will occur or that solely, digitally held events are the future. Besides this I do believe that digitalization will benefit traditional trade shows. Obviously within the process of preparations, communication, and with services such as logistics, but also for conducting panels and speakers who cannot be on-site. I think virtual formats are more an add-on for traditional events and we should check for potential benefits new technology offers. Maybe it is an expert doing a live presentation at a certain exhibit at certain times, maybe you can “invite and train” customers on new products on a trade show booth, when they cannot attend. You need to be able to grow the number of valuable contacts without restricting yourself and I think this is something that can be done by combining classic attendances with virtual formats.
ES. How do you ensure that ifm remains at the forefront of innovation and trends in the trade fair and events industry?
Markus Metzmacher. Even though trade fairs are led by our trade fair and events team it is always an effort of our complete corporate marketing department. Hence, we guarantee that we are not only aiming for new trends in trade shows, like used material, architectural trends, catering trends, but also trends that are used in industries of our suppliers. We also value our network of local suppliers for e.g., LED technology, animation, displays, etc. so whenever in one of these fields new eye-catching gadgets or products appear we are made aware and can discuss how to implement these. It is also important to note that ifm not always try to be an early adopter for anything new. Not, because we don’t trust the trend/product, but because we firmly believe that we want to do it right and almost perfect, so we use upcoming trends and gadgets mostly a year or two after their go-live, but then in a well thought project to use these trends to communicate
our philosophy and motives. We don’t use a trend just to use a trend, but we make sure that it fits the ifm way of things.
ES. What role do you see for artificial intelligence and machine learning in revolutionizing trade fair experiences?
Markus Metzmacher. If I see our graphic department as well as our video team, I can already recognize the impact of artificial intelligence for marketing actions. We used the same for production of campaign material as well as for our continuous inhouse TV show which was started due to the cancellation of trade shows during Covid. As the development of AI is astonishingly fast, I find it hard to predict the exact role it will play. As AI tend to ease generating files and material for trade shows I assume it will play a large role creating new possibilities for the workforce on our industry. I don’t believe in a replacement effect but hope that AI will speed up production and creation processes. During trade shows I can imagine that AI will ease out potential customer journeys at exhibits or touch points so needs of visitors that project teams haven’t thought of are also taken care of.
ES. What are the key skills and competencies you believe future leaders in the trade fair and events industry should focus on developing?
Markus Metzmacher. The most important skill in my opinion is curiosity or flexibility. Without these a modern leader in this industry will not be able to adapt to new trends or be able to shift fast enough if needed. This also includes the understanding of prior named trends such as AI and machine learning to be able to make good use of these in the daily business, but also within events itself. Other than that, I believe the key assets are still the old ones: setting priorities right under stress, being dedicated to what you do, striving for excellence – so time management, work planning and organization, as well as communication of clear goals. Overall, which is not solely important for the trade fair and events industry, is empathy to manage the younger workforce who have another understanding of work and work-life-balance. Even if we do not agree with their perception of work, we need to accept that change is inevitable. Not only displaying that you understand your employees but really caring for their well-being in this industry, is paramount to have a team that will be happy to go the extra mile for an attractive event for your clients.
ES. As someone who has risen through the ranks, what advice would you give to aspiring professionals looking to make their mark in the trade fair and event management industry?
Markus Metzmacher. One of my first managers told me that you need to care for your projects and tasks the same you would care for your own baby. Why I think this is sounds a bit too extreme it clearly points the direction towards the advice I give nowadays:
- Always take any opportunity offered to you and try to excel on that. Even though it might not turn out as you planned for or hoped for, people realize relatively fast who is willing to step in and push. It is more likely that people will remember the one coming out of the comfort zone rather the one “just doing a good job as in the job description”.
- Never be satisfied – or at least be satisfied with the feeling of always improving. I realized that being too content with what you delivered automatically causes a performance drop in the next iteration of an event. Always ask yourself which piece can be improved and what did not meet your standards?
- Be realistic without self-doubting yourself all the time. Trade fairs and events are meant to display a perfect world and even though you plan to aim for perfection this is almost never reached. Realistically you will often deliver something astonishing for visitors, but not as good for you. Don’t doubt yourself for a result which got the primary result of impressing visitors and staff member. The aftermath of this event itself will then lead to advice #2 – never be satisfied!
