"We are in a much better situation this year"

Interview on succeet22 with Heinrich Fischer and Simone Waller-Klink

The second succeet in-person trade show will take place in Munich on 20 and 21 October. Heinrich Fischer and Simone Waller-Klink talk about the status quo of planning and registrations, important innovations and how the market research industry will be able to satisfy its thirst for face-to-face encounters in Munich.

 

Exhibitor information for succeet22 has recently become available. How is the marketing of the trade show going so far?

Simone Waller-Klink: It‘s going very well. Although we are still in the middle of the preparations for our online festival Week of Market Research WoM22. We have already received many enquiries, confirmations and bookings from our long-standing and regular exhibitors – the first reached us as early as November. The demand for larger stand spaces in the front part of the hall is particularly high at the moment.

We are pleased that many regular customers have already confirmed or booked. We are also registering great interest from exhibitors who were not present at the first succeet event.

In this respect, we are really confident that we will significantly increase the number of exhibitors compared to last year.
 

Even if the re-start was overall successful: what should be improved for the second succeet in October 2022?

Heinrich Fischer: We are in a much better situation this year. Of course, Corona is not over, but we can plan more reliably and make use of last year's experience. We also have a much longer time to prepare the event, so we can better plan and communicate. We will optimise our website, including ticket and session booking, so that interested visitors and exhibitors can find their way around quickly and easily. The entire trade show and agenda offer is to be elaborated and communicated in terms of themes in order to increase the practical benefit for the visitors.

There will be some exclusive sessions for the particularly important visitor group of clientside insights managers.

The trade show will also become much more international this year because travel restrictions will no longer apply. We will take this into account, for example by offering a largely bilingual agenda and making the live presentations – when appropriate and possible – accessible to the English-speaking audience by means of simultaneous translation.
 

The industry is longing for personal contact. Will there be events like a networking party or a get-together in addition to the trade show?

Simone Waller-Klink: We are definitely planning for that. These events are indeed very important and highly popular. We even expect that they will almost feel like they did before the pandemic. What is currently in the planning is the traditional networking party organised by The Research Club. And there are ideas for a get-together on the evening before the trade show begins.
 

At the moment, a lot of events in Germany are being postponed to the autumn due to the Omicron wave. Last year succeet21 was one of the few in-person events that could take place at all. How confident are you that the trade show can take place again as an in-person event this year?

Heinrich Fischer: We are very confident indeed.

Even if a minimal amount of risk remains, we are absolutely convinced that 2022 will be even better than 2021.

The level of immunisation in the population is much better than last year: the vaccination progress is much more advanced and many people have already had the disease, which offers a good level of protection overall. And we have made the experience that the hospitals do not get overcrowded even with higher incidence levels. Politicians take this into account and refrain from imposing bans and restrictions. Nevertheless – we are prepared for whatever it takes.
 

The live presentations at the trade show got a lot of positive feedback last year. What changes are planned in 2022?

Simone Waller-Klink: The concept of closed live presentations was actually due to the limited space available because of Corona restrictions. It was a good concept which will be further expanded this year – we have received positive feedback from both visitors and exhibitors, as there are benefits for both sides. The concept of closed sessions allows the speakers to go into much more depth and share details that are really valuable for the visitors, without running the risk of the information ending up with their competitors. We are also streamlining the booking process for sessions: this year there will be a complete online workflow, instead of spreadsheets sent back and forth.
 

After last year's event, there were reports that students were not welcome at every stand. How do you plan to address this issue?

Heinrich Fischer: We will improve the mutual understanding among both groups, exhibitors and students, via a trade show briefing. And we really understand both sides: students are the future of the insights industry – as either tomorrow's staff or as clients. Exhibitors should therefore have a fundamental interest in getting in touch with them. On the other hand, students should accept if an exhibitor has no current demand or gives priority to professional visitors at the stand.

In the list of exhibitors, we will clearly indicate which exhibitors are open to applicants and students and which are not. This will make it easier for both sides to connect.

Basically, we would like to further promote the exchange between students and exhibitors and are currently thinking intensively about the topic of recruiting. We are sure that we will be able to offer a suitable format at succeet22.
 

Anyway, this year you are organising the third Week of Market Research together with marktforschung.de for the first time. The festival will take place in May 2022. How is the marketing of the sponsoring and sessions going?

Simone Waller-Klink: Really well! So far, we have more than 50 providers and sponsors for WoM22 – with about 70 sessions! We are not fully booked yet, there are still attractive slots and sponsoring opportunities available. The current status of the festival agenda will be published shortly, and we recommend interested providers to get in touch with us quickly. The cooperation between the two houses succeet and marktforschung.de has absolutely paid off, it’s a perfect match. The merger of the virtual succeet event with Week of Market Research offers a lot of advantages. Compared to last year, we have one event less, but WoM will be upgraded: it will be more comprehensive and more international. 

The interview was originally published in German on marktforschung.de (9 March 2022) – here.