The team at Reed Exhibitions has announced FIBO Köln will not run as a live event as hoped, but will instead pivot to digital for 2020.

The show was original scheduled in its customary April slot, but was slipped to 1-3 October as a result of the pandemic, with the event moving from its ususal trade plus consumer format, to trade-only.

However, due to the ongoing situation with the pandemic, the FIBO team, in consultation with stakeholders and exhibitors, has concluded a live event is no longer viable for 2020.

Some exhibitors had expressed concerns about the shorter time gap between the October and April shows, saying that it left less time to follow up and convert sales leads, potentially putting a strain on budgets by essentially having two FIBOs within a six month window.

Hans-Joachim Erbel, CEO of Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH, said: “Together we had hoped we would be able to get back on track with the industry in October after the months of lockdown. Unfortunately, this will not be the case due to the ongoing development of the pandemic and the uncertainty that this brings.”

The event will now take place as a fully digital production – FIBO@business will bring together international forums, congresses and other formats for trade visitors, including an online edition of the European Health and Fitness Forum from EuropeActive.

Consumers will be offered a special FIBO@home virtual event.

"Many of our exhibitors requested an alternative to the face to face live trade fair," said Erbel. "With FIBO@business, our aim is to offer an event format that – especially in this extraordinary situation – will bring the industry together safely, to provide the urgently needed impetus for a new start, once the crisis eases."

The focus of FIBO@business will be on fitness, health, physiotherapy, prevention and corporate health management and the global nature of FIBO will be reflected in the digital trade show.

The European Health and Fitness Forum will kick off on 30 September as a hybrid event – partly online and partly on-site.

Other key partners of the FIBO@business virtual event will include the German University of Applied Sciences for Prevention and Health Management which will present its “Aufstiegskongress” (Ascent Conference) and the Fittech Summit which examines trends and future topics from the fitness and health industry.