What Happens When Events Grow Too Big?
Photo Credit: As large events become more popular, organizers face the challenge of ensuring that spaces remain accessible to hundreds of thousands of attendees. Flickr / Christian Behrens
Skift Take
Germany’s biggest exhibition will test the endurance of delegates as more than 200,000 visitors flock to Hanover. The event may be too big for the host city, and many delegates will have to commute for hours each day.
Can an event become too successful?
That’s something Germany’s largest exhibition organizer, Deutsche Messe, will put to the test in April when it combines two of its biggest events in Hanover, the Hannover Messe 2018 industrial technology show and the biannual CeMAT logistics and materials handling show.
The massive event will use 25 of the 26 halls and occupy around 4.3 million square feet of the world’s biggest exhibition center.
The annual combined trade show could attract more than 250,000 delegates, after the last standalone Hannover Messe notched a record 225,000 visitors last year and CeMAT 2016 drew more than 40,000.
Messe marketing and communications head Onuora Ogbukagu was more conservative in his estimate, expecting around 220,000 visitors. But even that number will present a challenge for a city with a population of just over 52
