Deutsche Messe plans to shave a day off the Cebit trade show next year, reducing it to a five-day event, show officials said Monday.
The show will run from March 2 to March 6 so it ends on a Saturday rather than a Sunday as it does this year.
The cut is part of the continuing evolution of Cebit, which at its peak ran for more than a week. In recent years consumer electronics companies have left the show for the IFA show in Berlin, a once biennial event that went annual and is solely focused on consumer electronics.
Cebit organizers have been trying to refocus the event on a more business-to-business crowd and they say it’s working.
“Companies are no longer sending three people from the IT department, they are sending one but he’s the head of IT,” said Hartwig von Sass, a Deutsche Messe spokesman.
At present around 80 percent of visitors to the fair are business users and the organizers hope to increase that percentage. By cutting the final Sunday from the event that’s almost assured for the 2010 event. It will also aid exhibitors in finishing at the showground and returning home before the new business week begins.
This year’s Cebit kicks off on Tuesday and has attracted 4,300 companies from 69 nations. The figure is down 26 percent from last year due in-part to the poor economy and slashed travel and promotional budgets at many IT companies.