During their practical semester, students formed three project groups to investigate the question of how the visitor’s stay at the trade fair can be guided better and thus be adjusted to their interests and how visitors could be attracted to follow-up events. Students questioned visitors and exhibitors of previous trade fairs and summarized the results gained to developed recommendations for the next event in September this year. The imaginary budget allowance for the set of measures was 100,000 euros.
The students now had the chance to present their solutions to the responsible managers at Stuttgart Trade Fair. Amongst others, they suggested expanding the existing trade fair app by additional features: It should give visitors the possibility to purchase tickets at short notice and offer functions allowing visitors to arrange appointments with individual exhibitors at the trade fair. People questioned also expressed their wish that the app provided more detailed information on the stands and exhibitors. Furthermore, the app should be able to guide smartphone users to particular stands depending on their individual interests to facilitate orientation within the wide trade fair program range. The organizers of the fairs can benefit from enhanced functionality of the app by being able to provide visitors of future trade fairs with a customized overview of exhibitors.
The announcement of the Stuttgart Trade Fair managers that they will be integrating some of the suggested changes into their new marketing concept is a particular success for the students.