IFA Xtended Space powered by rooom

Exhibitions and events in 2020 are characterized by cancellations, postponements and hygiene concepts. Organizers of trade fairs, congresses and events are facing enormous challenges. So Messe Berlin GmbH has taken a bold step and, together with us, rooom AG, has turned the IFA into a hybrid event this year.

What is the IFA?

The IFA takes place in Berlin and is considered the leading trade fair for the global electronics industry. Every year, important new products such as smartphones, household appliances and consumer electronics are presented to an international audience. We also participated in the IFA last year to present our 3D platform in Berlin.

But in 2020 everything is different. Normally, exhibitors and visitors from all over the world travel to Berlin for the IFA, which of course makes their participation seem impossible considering the global pandemic. Many international participants were frightened by the crisis situation and cancelled their participation. Who wants to squeeze through the crowd in a packed exhibition hall in times of a pandemic?

But cancelling the IFA was not an option. In order to allow the industry's most important trade fair to take place despite all the adverse circumstances, it was declared a "Special Edition" this year: IFA took place from September 3 to 5, both as a live event for selected participants in Berlin and online in the so-called Xtended Space. 

We make the IFA digital

And this is where we come in: With our solution for virtual events, a digital extension of the trade fair was created within a very short time. The entire digital visualization was created in less than three months.

In the IFA Xtended Space, visitors were able to participate in press conferences, lectures and panels via live streaming and could also view them afterwards. In futuristically designed exhibition halls and showrooms in 3D, product innovations from exhibitors such as Miele, Huawai and Hyundai were displayed. We were also able to present our 3D platform in a virtual showroom.

Brilliant networking features provided an interactive experience for visitors from all over the world, even if they were unable to visit the IFA on site due to the current situation. Thanks to our technology, a visit was possible without any download and without special technology, even from Asia. Out of almost 110,000 digital visitors, 60,000 users from Asia, 22,608 from Europe and 5,017 from North America came to visit the platform. More curious visitors came to the event from Poland, Italy, Chile and Brazil. With our virtual business cards, numerous contacts could be made despite the long distance - guaranteed virus-free.

Are you curious to see what the Xtended Space looks like? Although the IFA is officially over, the virtual part can still be visited at https://xtended.ifa-berlin.com/

Or just have a look at our video review:

The IFA was the first hybrid event of this size for us. Therefore, we put an extreme amount of time and energy into this project. But the hard work of the last weeks has definitely paid off for us. As a start-up we are incredibly proud to have contributed to this important event! But resting is not an option for us now, because many new exciting projects are on the agenda, which we are already looking forward to.

IFA has shown us that the exhibition of the future is hybrid!