Britta Wirtz, Managing Director of Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress-GmbH, will take over the chairmanship of the Society for Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics (FKM) on July 1. Wirtz has been 1st Vice Chairwoman of the FKM since 2014. The 51-year-old will assume the post until a new chairperson is elected at the FKM partners’ meeting in December 2022.
The previous FKM Chairman Klaus Dittrich retired at the end of June 2022. The 67-year-old had been at the helm of the FKM as chairman since 2017. During his tenure, Dittrich emphasized the importance of the FKM for everyone who makes trade fairs happen – especially visitors, exhibitors and trade fair organizers. Reliable and comparable trade show data is important for meeting the right target groups at trade shows, he said, but also for monitoring competitor trade shows. Trade shows have “an unbeatable power of persuasion,” Dittrich emphasized. The pandemic had proven that trade fairs have a future and that digital communication can be a useful supplement, but not a substitute, for face-to-face encounters.
In the upheaval of the trade fair industry, which is strongly influenced by the digitalization push, Dittrich supported the development of FKM key performance indicators for hybrid and digital trade fairs. This provides measurable KPIs for trade shows and digital extensions.
The FKM is the only organization in Germany for the certification and publication of exhibition data. Every year, 40 organizers together have around 200 trade fairs and exhibitions certified by the FKM testing organization, which is based in Berlin. Chairwoman of the FKM is Britta Wirtz, Managing Director of Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress-GmbH, Deputy Constanze Kreuser, Managing Director of RAM Regio Ausstellungs GmbH Erfurt.
