Preparations for Inter BEE 2021 are being made on the premise that it will be held on-site at Makuhari. Since last year's event was held online, there were many requests for an on-site exhibition this year.
In the questionnaire, we asked the participants whether they would come to the venue or not. Almost half of the respondents, 50.2%, answered "Yes," meaning they were planning to go to Makuhari. A large number of respondents, 43.2%, were not sure yet. This probably means that the company cannot answer with the threat of Covid-19 and how it will be handled as of November.
Including the fact that only 6.7% of the respondents answered "No," we can assume that many of the visitors will visit the event if they could. It seems that there are still high expectations for the on-site event. Some responds include voices such as, "Please make this year an on-site exhibition" and "I look forward to seeing you there."

The following graph shows the results on what people expect to see at the exhibition. The highest percentage of respondents, 78.2%, wanted to see and try the latest products, followed by 67.6% who wanted to hear explanations of the latest products and ask questions directly. As expected, there was a great deal of interest in actually seeing the products and talking directly with the exhibitors. This reminded me once again that many people recognize the significance of such direct contact with exhibitors. Furthermore, due to the highly specialized nature of Inter BEE, there are probably many things that cannot be understood without actual interaction and handling of the product.
Some responds include impressions such as, "I believe that Inter BEE is an exhibition where you can see, handle, and experience products in person." and ""Inter BEE is a great place to talk directly with manufacturers and users, so I would like to see an on-site exhibition."

At Inter BEE 2021, online exhibition space will be provided free of charge to on-site exhibitors. When asked what kind of content they find valuable in online exhibits, 66.1% of respondents cited "exhibitor search, product/service information, videos, and document downloads.” This may be a result of the fact that many people experienced the online exhibition last year. While there were high expectations for on-site exhibitions, the convenience and ease of online exhibitions were also valued by the respondents. They also answered that they would like conferences, special exhibit conferences, and exhibitor seminars to be offered as online content. In the previous question, the ability to attend conferences in person was mentioned as a value of holding an on-site exhibition, but it is clear that they also want online conferences.
Through this questionnaire we realized that although people want to be able to handle products, meet exhibitors, and attend conferences in person, they also want the ease of looking at product information and conferences online.
This year's Inter BEE 2021 will be in a hybrid format, with online exhibits as well as on-site ones. I believe that this will be an exhibition that meets both the expectations of the real world and the evaluations of the online world that were expressed in the questionnaire. It would be a good idea for businesses that are considering exhibiting to start preparing to take full advantage of both. Together, let us look forward to another year of Makuhari being crowded with exhibitors and visitors. This will help to light up the future of the industry.
I cannot wait to see you all soon at Inter BEE.

For more information about the exhibition, please visit the related URL.