News
Oh, how we would love to be telling you about a successful Chillventa in Nuremberg at this point… have interesting, face-to-face discussions with you, present new products, see well-attended exhibition halls and get that very special feeling that accompanies every exhibition. But everything was different this year…
After EuroShop, which fortunately still took place in Düsseldorf in February, the world was turned upside down shortly afterwards. COVID-19. We don’t need to say anything else. We have all felt the effects to different degrees.
But it suddenly became clear that no more exhibitions would take place in 2020. What a shame!
But what happened next? All of a sudden, there was talk of virtual exhibitions, eSpecials, roundtables, etc. Exhibition organisers put their heads together and worked out concepts to offer the refrigeration industry a little exhibition feeling – despite social distancing regulations.
Virtual Trade Show
On 1 and 2 September shecco (www.shecco.com) organised the VTS Virtual Trade Show – the world’s first virtual trade fair all about natural refrigerants. The VTS was a global live event that extended over a period of 24 hours, covering all time zones.
Visitors could register free of charge and interact with exhibitors around the clock via chat, audio and video functions. The programme was complemented by exciting webinars focusing on natural refrigerants.
77 companies presented digital information material and videos from their virtual 3D exhibition stands during VTS. As digital representatives of real employees, avatars were available for chats and video calls. Thanks to the way the content was presented, visitors almost felt as though they were participating in a real exhibition.
TEKO as special premium sponsor
We were impressed by this innovative concept and presented four virtual exhibition stands in our own TEKO exhibition hall, focusing on Retail, Light Industrial, Industrial & Control Electronics.
And not just that! To complement the event, we also set up a real exhibition stand at our headquarters in Altenstadt, Germany. This meant we were able to present our CO2 solutions to visitors live on site during every video call.
And last but not least, our Managing Director Andreas Meier held a live webinar entitled “360° view on CO2. From past to future – from retail, industrial to air conditioning application”.
VTS summary
Of 4,232 registered participants, 2,359 actually took part. Of course, a virtual exhibition is no substitute for an in-person event, but in coronavirus times where this is unfortunately not feasible – particularly not internationally – the Virtual Trade Show was a successful alternative.
The next VTS will take place on 23 and 24 February 2021. shecco is using the experience gained from the first event to further improve VTS 2.0. And it goes without saying that we’ll be there again. Why not make a note of the date and come and see for yourself?
Chillventa eSpecial
Following long deliberations by Chillventa organisers, the decisive news arrived on 3 June: “Chillventa not back in Nuremberg until 2022 – 2020 will be held virtually.” Nobody wanted to hear that news, but it was inevitable, of course.
The Chillventa eSpecial – and Chillventa Congress – was therefore held from 13 to 15 October 2020. There were 30 lectures at the Congress, 75 specialist presentations and over 300 roundtable discussions from 207 exhibiting companies. In total, over 6,800 participants from 113 countries took part actively with more than 100,000 chat messages and 1,200 video calls.
While this virtual event could not replace a “real” Chillventa, it did offer the industry a chance to exchange professional information even in coronavirus times.
Nevertheless, we hope that we will not have to make this compromise a second time and that in future, we will again be able to exchange ideas with you personally at our exhibition stand and present our latest products to you live and hands-on. We’re already looking forward to it!
Do you already know our YouTube channel?
For the virtual exhibitions, we made time for an exciting video shoot day at our booth in Altenstadt. It resulted in entertaining films in which we interactively present our ROXSTA CO2 solutions. Take a look at our YouTube channel.
Für die virtuellen Messen legten wir einen spannenden Video-Drehtag auf unserem Messestand in Altenstadt ein. Die Ergebnisse sind kurzweilige Filme, in denen wir Ihnen unsere CO2-Lösungen ROXSTA interaktiv vorstellen. Schauen Sie doch mal auf unserem YouTube-Channel vorbei:
Sarah Schröter