Despite the Corona crisis, German consumer electronics fair IFA 2020 is to take place as an on-site event in Berlin, but with a significantly smaller number of visitors.
Only trade visitors who have registered in advance and invited guests will be allowed to attend the fair, which will take place from September 3 to 5.
Four stand-alone parallel events are planned: the IFA Global Press Conference for brands’ keynotes and press conferences, the sourcing show IFA Global Markets, the innovation platform IFA NEXT meets IFA SHIFT Mobility, and the IFA Business, Retail and Meeting Lounges.
A maximum of 1,000 participants per day will be admitted to each event; all restrictions in relation with the Covid 19 pandemic will be respected. For visitors unable to attend, there will be accompanying streaming and chat offers.
“Virtual events are certainly helpful, but they lack the human emotional connection that makes events like IFA Berlin so incredibly valuable,” said Jens Heithecker, executive director of IFA Berlin.
IFA thus takes a different approach than numerous other industry events such as ANGA COM, Medientage München or IBC, which have been cancelled, postponed or turned into virtual events.
In April 2020, IFA organisers announced that this year’s event would not be able to take place in its usual setting. The reason is the ban imposed by the state of Berlin on major events with more than 5,000 participants until October 24 in order to curb the spread of the Coronavirus.
In 2019, IFA attracted around 245,000 visitors and almost 2,000 exhibitors.
