Wayfinding
Examining the cost of getting lost
The larger the trade show , the harder it is to navigate . Crowd Connect ’ s Mark Maydon looks at the recent CPHI show in Milan , recommends wayfinding strategies and pins a figure to the true cost of ‘ lost ’ attendees – $ 26bn
PHI is a monster . In a
C good way , of course . Informa ’ s flagship European mega-expo is the world ’ s biggest trade show for the pharma sector , covering all aspects of development , manufacturing and supply chain . Pharma is booming , thanks to advancements in biotechnology and increased healthcare spending .
As a result , CPHI has become so huge that few venues in Europe are realistically big enough to handle it – in terms not only of size of site , but also hotel accommodation and international transport links .
This October it had been Milan ’ s turn . Frankfurt gets the gig in 2025 and , presumably , the CPHI ball will be batted back and forth between them for the foreseeable .
( Side note : Deutsche Messe ’ s Hannover exhibition site might be the largest in the world , with a monumental 550,000sqm surface area . But it loses out on international transport connectivity with only a small regional airport . Hannover does attract huge events with international appeal – DLG ’ s agricultural shows like Eurotier and Agritechnica being examples – but most of its shows are focused on the local DACH market .)
Mega events like CPHI share a common feature – they are daunting to navigate . CPHI attracts upwards of 50,000 visitors each day . Many are first-timers , and even veterans might not know that it ’ s a kilometre trek between the furthest halls ( say 15 minutes , if the Italian coffee doesn ’ t tempt you into a pitstop mid-journey ).
At this year ’ s edition there were 14 halls , the smallest of which was 15,000sqm in size . 15,000sqm ( approximately 161,500 square feet ) is hard to visualise and therefore a bit meaningless . So , think two soccer pitches . Or 1.25 baseball fields for our American sports fans .
Add together all 14 halls over two levels that CPHI ’ s 3,000 exhibitors busily filled , and it comes to nearly 230,000sqm ( 2.48 million square feet ) of indoor space . That ’ s bigger than the retail footprint of a large-sized shopping mall .
That ’ s by no means it in terms of the total CPHI footprint . On top of the halls , we need to add in all the peripheral space : the entrance and exit areas , the food and beverage outlets , the walkways and corridors , to name but a few .
Now we are approaching 300,000sqm . Or approximately 3.2 million square feet . Even harder to visualise . But let ’ s try .
The Pentagon is the world ’ s second-largest office building by total floor area ( apparently , it has 28 kilometres of corridors alone ). The footprint of CPHI 2024 was almost half a Pentagon .
So , we ’ re on safe ground saying CPHI is a monster , in terms of its size .
It ’ s this sheer size that presents challenges for organisers who want to ensure that anyone attending gets the most out of their time at the show .
Left : CPHI in Milan is spread over 14 halls on two levels
Spatial anxiety There is a growing body of research on what psychologists term ‘ spatial anxiety ’. Spatial
40 Issue 6 2024 www . exhibitionworld . co . uk