Wolfram Diener ’ s year in the hot seat
The Messe Düsseldorf CEO opens up to Paul Woodward about some of the important issues facing his company and , indeed , the wider industry
hen he returned to Germany from Asia in 2018 , Wolfram Diener brought with him the experience gleaned from one of the most varied and interesting careers in the exhibition industry . It ’ s safe to suggest that no-one else can match the variety which spans senior management positions for Hamburg , Frankfurt and now Düsseldorf Messes , the Sino-German venue joint venture SNIEC , working for the late Sheldon Adelson to launch the MICE activities of Venetian Macau and Marina Bay Sands , and a key role at one of the ‘ big Brits ’, running an important segment of Informa Markets portfolio in Asia .
Diener is among the newest of the CEOs running the largest exhibition businesses in Germany , having taken the top seat there in July last year .
These jobs don ’ t come up for grabs very often , with his predecessor , Werner Dornscheidt , having run the company for 17 years and worked there for 37 .
It has clearly been a tough first year but he is relieved to be seeing signs of improvement . “ The situation is now improving day by day , quite dramatically ,” says Diener . Clearly , however , things won ’ t be going back to normal right away . “ We are building a massive test centre right next to the fairground ,” he tells me . Testing will be at the heart of Germany ’ s Covid exit strategy and those who are unvaccinated and attending longer events will need to be tested every two days . As he says , this becomes a big exercise at a show like the 10-day Caravan Salon . “ Every exhibitor who requires the test has to undergo this
Below : Testing is a big logistical exercise for a 10-day show like Caravan Salon procedure at least five times . So , you can sense this requires some logistics ,” says Diener .
Diener thinks such measures are likely to remain well into next year , particularly where international travel from outside the EU is concerned . This is of particular concern to the big German organisers such as Messe Düsseldorf . “ We have shows where almost 80 % of the attendees come from overseas ,” he points out . That is having an impact on the speed at which exhibitor confidence to return is re-emerging . The CEO says exhibitors are telling him : “ I need your trade show to connect with my overseas buyers .” So , he says , “ when they don ’ t see a fair chance that a notable number of these overseas buyers are able and willing to travel to the show , then they might say , ‘ it ’ s not worth it for me yet ’.”
Diener is also concerned that quite a lot of large companies are maintaining significant restrictions on their staff travelling internationally for business . “ But ,” he continues , “ I hope with a rapid improvement over the past weeks , and hopefully going forward , they will be able to change their thinking in this regard .”
Even with the improving situation , the lead-time needed to organise an international event means that some tricky decisions are imminent . “ For international trade shows , you need at least three months ahead to do your planning as exhibitors , to prepare , to organise the shipping and all that . So , for our show in October this year , we are very soon going into the time window of making a final decision ”. And , given the rapidly changing situation , many are still sitting on the fence , he says .
That level of uncertainty is something quite foreign to exhibition company staff and it has been tough for many . “ They are used to working in a very structured way , following a routine and that ’ s simply not the reality at the moment ,” Diener notes . “ Many of my colleagues are
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