dmexco 2017 a working routine
Well-oiled machine, but a bit of routine
dmexco took place mid-September in Cologne and it was again an interesting meeting point for the digital industry. Again the numbers were more than reasonable and many big names of the industry were present as exhibitors, visitors or speakers.
Key figures of the 2017 edition
- Approximately 40700 visitors
- Over 1100 exhibitors
- More then 570 speakers
2017 inferior to 2016
In terms of organization, one can only note that it is a well-oiled machine. The concept functions very well and offers many opportunities for visitors to either visit booths, attend conferences, or even do both. However this year I must say I found this edition a bit inferior to the one of the year before. Don’t get me wrong dmexco vintage 2017 was not bad, it is just that my experience was just simply not as amazing as last year. Of course you could take into consideration that I only attended one of the two days. But still I believe two aspects could have been improved.
Startup Village
Firstly, the Startup Village was very hard to read. Companies in that space only received a table and chairs with a small totem showing only their logo. This layout was quite uninviting. To guess what a company is doing behind a logo is not always easy, and also in this setup many startup exhibitors tended to stay behind their computers. A few tried to approach you but in theory it was disallowed. To me, the entire setup gave a bit of a messy feeling and didn’t encourage interactions. But don’t worry, I managed to find a few ideas and innovative concepts and will present them to you in another article.
The conferences, ok but not great
Secondly, the conferences I attended were not as astonishing as last year. Am I too demanding? Am I getting old? Did I eat something wrong? I don’t know but I don’t think so. Surely, M. Bonin had a very entertaining show; the debate about Gender Equality is a necessary one (sadly still necessary today); AI was a theme and mentioned here and there; Samsung’s CMO brought a famous guest star to support his presentation; etc., etc., etc.,… But all in all when I read my notes again I fail to find a strong content.
There’s always next year
All in all, I hope you don’t get me wrong here. I enjoyed my presence at dmexco and don’t think it was a waste of my time. This minor inferiority of the 2017 vintage is definitely not enough for me to say I will not come back next year. It is just a simple trade fair fact of life. If you go every year, you are sure to experience stronger years and less strong editions.
dmexco 2018, 12th and 13th of September 2018, Koelnmesse, Cologne, Germany, www.dmexco.com
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DigitalDigitalisationDmexcoCologneKoelnmesseEcommerce