iba: The trade fair connects online only in 2021

The industry connects online

The premiere virtual iba event took place from March 15 to 17, appropriately named after its fundamental goal: iba.CONNECTING EXPERTS. With the physical edition now moved to 2023, it also serves as a learning experience for the second installment, to be held in October in place of the anticipated in-person industry reunion.

+With experts from 131 countries logging in and connecting to iba’s platform, the debut virtual event accomplished one of the main goals iba has always set up for itself: to be a global business gathering. Cathleen Kabashi, head of iba, granted us an interview about the premiere of the virtual event and the postponement of the in-person fair. One of the benefits of it being hosted online is having detailed, accurate metrics thanks to a quality technical platform that ensured a smooth-running event: over 5,000 direct interactions were recorded over the three-day event. Interesting lectures and presentations with live Q&A sessions were held throughout, with an agenda for all time zones.

The interactive event was built around four concepts: ‘Learn’ – the supporting education component, ‘Connect’ – the networking platform, ‘Discover’ – for trends and innovations, and ‘Entertain’ – for infotainment such as the popular virtual bakery visits. The exhibitor sections were structured with useful information and featured live chat, product documentation to download, at-a-glance highlights, and the available hosts. A comprehensive presentation program included current topics such as: ‘Bakery in the post-COVID-19 world – opportunities and challenges explained’ (Cyrille Filott, Rabobank), ‘Efficient human-machine interaction for highly automated production systems’ (Paul Weber, Fraunhofer IVV), and ‘Future of Food: Feeding Tomorrow’s World – tasteful, healthy and sustainable’ (Guido Ritter, FH Münster), to name just a few.

What will the postponement to 2023 mean for the industry this year and going forward? The exhibition’s director acknowledges the absence of iba this year in its full dimension. There are multiple layers to the consequences: “First of all, it means a lack of business exchange. Exhibitors from all over the world usually present what the industry has to offer while visitors receive a focused view of the market. Secondly, innovations are presented live in their full functionality at the trade fair and thus, some of the new products will not make their first market appearance with all of the industry´s physical and sensory attention, which is normally the case at iba. Thirdly, iba is a global marketplace where participants interact with each other and maintain long-term relationships. The trade fair also enables spontaneous encounters. All of this is most important for decision makers, as well as sales teams and much of this, will be missed in October 2021. Luckily, with iba.CONNECTING EXPERTS we will be able to bridge the gap to a certain extent. Nevertheless, as the ongoing crisis has an impact on global market places like iba, the market´s relationships will be affected as well,” Kabashi tells us.

With the experience of the virtual event that has just concluded, Kabashi anticipates, “The second edition will allow the industry to network once again, even in this unusual year. Our aim and therefore the challenge will be to connect even more participants worldwide and expand the possibilities of business exchange. This being the case, we do not want to display a digital version of iba, but an independent virtual networking and knowledge event to link the global industry.”

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iba.CONNECTING EXPERTS

March:

+6,031 participants (unique users) from 131 countries +66 exhibitors +5,340 direct interactions (personal conversations, product information) +11,860 registrations for the online lectures +3,480 minutes of exchanges through the online lectures alone +Social media: the cumulative reach, exclusively related to the exhibitors, amounted to around 1.1 million followers

October:

+Pre-registration is open +Dates: October 25-28, 2021