Between Innovation and Administration

Building a Pioneer Bridge to Overcome Difficult Times (Picture: SimoneVomFeld/Pixabay)

For the faint-hearted, it might all have been a bit too much at once — this week in Germany’s exhibition industry (and the week isn’t even over yet). Still, it’s been apparent for some time that the golden age of the great “Leitmessen” — those meticulously choreographed, quintessentially German flagship trade shows — may not continue forever. The freshly trumpeted record-breaking figures of the Messes briefly made experts sit up and take notice again, but the case is really quite clear: when we talk about transformation, we don’t mean how much AI will be built into trade shows, or how digital their formats will become. What it actually means is that the entire business model needs to be put on the operating table — and then rather swiftly rebuilt.

It all began with the (long-rumoured) announcement that Messe München would fold its venerable sports industry fair, ISPO, into a joint venture with Douglas Emslie's Racoon Media Group — and, in a move that must have made a few Bavarian hearts skip a beat, shift the whole affair from Munich to Amsterdam. Numerous previous (and in fairness, often well-regarded) attempts to reinvent the consumer goods show for a new era had failed to catch fire. Clearly, Munich has decided that a bit of British flair might inject the right dose of entrepreneurial caffeine.

Next came a surprise from Messe Frankfurt GmbH, which declared it would no longer continue Prolight + Sound as a standalone show (or, to be precise, could no longer do so — for lack of exhibitors). Instead, it will now be absorbed into the biennial Light + Building. Intriguingly, only days before, Frankfurt had announced the launch of a brand-new Prolight + Sound Bangkok in 2026, in partnership with VNU Exhibitions Asia Pacific Co. Ltd.. So the topic and the sector themselves are alive and well — just apparently no longer so keen on staying home.

The third headline came from the orbit of the fairnamic joint venture (Messe Frankfurt and Messe Friedrichshafen GmbH), organiser of the leading cycling show EUROBIKE. Two key German industry associations, ZIV – Die Fahrradindustrie and Zukunft Fahrrad, announced their withdrawal from the ongoing talks for the 2026 edition — and thus from the collaboration altogether. Insiders have long known that Eurobike has struggled to balance the broad and sometimes conflicting interests of its many stakeholders. Still, comments by Fairnamic’s CEO Stefan Reisinger on velobiz suggest that the move came as something of a shock.

Last but not least, a bit of soul-searching from Bavaria: Karl-Heinz Arians, senior civil servant at the Bavarian State Ministry for Family, Labour and Social Affairs, announced a “creative break” for ConSozial, Germany’s leading social sector show. According to the Evangelisches Sonntagsblatt, the organisers intend to “take time to reflect on what could be done differently — and better.” Since 1999, the event has been run by the ministry together with NürnbergMesse Group, but it has recently seen waning interest from the social economy: in 2018, there were 250 exhibitors; this year, only 180.

Former UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry CEO Kai Hattendorf, writing in Exhibition World, sees the Munich development as an opportunity. The blend of German B2B rigour with British B2C agility, he argues, could allow organisers — who have grown increasingly specialised — to reposition themselves as generalists in ever more fragmented markets. In my opinion, the corporate and working cultures between Germany and the Anglo-Saxon world could hardly be more different, of course. Pessimists might see that as a recipe for failure. But the British exhibition scene isn’t just powered by corporate heavyweights — it’s also populated by old-school entrepreneurs with an unerring nose for innovation and business.

For my part — as an incorrigible optimist — I see in all this a fine chance to breathe new life into Germany’s once-proud but recently a bit self-satisfied Messes. The road ahead will no doubt be steeper, longer and more strenuous for the Germans and their public shareholders alike. But the location-focused desire for safety can no longer play the leading role — not if the business is to survive. Better, surely, to embrace a little self-made dynamism than to drift into a malaise one can no longer control. Don’t you think?

(Published first on LinkedIn 31 October, 2025. Orginally written in German and translated with a little help from ChatGPT 😉)