IFA Berlin Returning to 2021 Physical Show at ‘Full Scale'

3-7 as a physical show at “full scale,” complemented with a repeat of this year’s virtual component, said Executive Director Jens Heithecker from Berlin. Visitors at IFA 2020 numbered “in the hundreds” at any single time, not the usual thousands, said Heithecker. “We kept the numbers down, well below the limits set by public health authorities” (see 2004220038). IFA representatives didn’t respond to questions Tuesday about the rationale for making IFA 2021 five days. Heithecker was “pleased to see our health and safety concept in action,” he said. Germany “successfully contained the virus, but we must not be complacent,” he said. “The pandemic knows no borders.” IFA 2020 “sent an important signal to the world that tech is back,” he said. Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center ranks Germany 20th in cases, 18th in deaths. About 6,100 people visited during the three-day event “in real life,” said Heithecker. The virtual component had more than 260,000 “online views,” he said. We found the show's virtual offering easy to navigate, and the audio and video quality was good throughout. One glitch was the apparent server crash Friday afternoon EDT that prevented us from accessing on-demand content. Organizers didn’t comment on the problem.