I’m a resident of Hanover and have been to every Cebit in the last ten years.<p>The fall was inevitable. You could feel that Cebit was struggling to attract visitors and wasn’t sure what it’s identity was. I feel like they should have focused more on the Global Conference Series where they always had very interesting talks lined up but the entry fee for that (You had to buy a separate ticket for that) was far to high imo.<p>It was customary to get some friends and stroll along the massive fair grounds when it was still focused more towards consumers and we always had a great time. I could split off to check out actual booths that interested me and most even had competent people who actually knew their product and could talk about it. I feel like that changed right around the time Cebit decided to only cater towards businesses. Instead of knowledgeable people you now had to deal with pretty ladies who knew nothing and PR folks who wouldn’t tell you anything else than how great their product/service is. Before you could get answers to technical questions that could not get answered by visiting their website and have a discussion with people who actually worked on the product.<p>Last year was especially dull; nearly every booth I visited was just handing out flyers with links to their websites. I tried to have some discussion to get to know whatever they were promoting but it was near impossible. I had the all-day event ticket but after the first day of scouting booths quickly decided that it wasn’t worth my time and only attended three talks from the Global Conferences after that. I was planning on only visiting the latter this year and don’t waste my time on the actual fair. I’m not to sad to see it come to an end but have kind memories of what it once was.
End of an era, but not all that surprising in the end. For years they experimented with different audiences, but didn't really find a profile that was relevant anymore.<p>Finding out about new products or companies doesn't require a trade show anymore. They went to focus on the business side anyways so no private visitors anymore (until the turn-around attempt this year) and other places took up that market. But the business market also has its own events now, both smaller, more specialized ones and ones run by the large companies. Way fewer small (or even large) companies where you can talk to people actually involved with the product developments, which was something you could do in the beginning. Again, no need to travel to CEBIT to talk to marketing.<p>It's fulfilled its purpose when it was needed, now it has been replaced.
For us oldschoolers, Cebit 1990 demoscene afterparty democompetetion winner, Red Sector Inc. with the demo named “Cebit 90” [1]. Waz not there, but those were the days...<p>[1] <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hHHdldXaWdo" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hHHdldXaWdo</a>
Completely unsurprised, but still a bit sad. My husband insisted I go up to CeBIT in 2011, when I was struggling to get interviews for IT jobs in Germany. Apparently, the people at the DIS AG booth were impressed enough to recommend me to their Nuremberg office, who put me out on a placement that was with the company I’ve now been with for 7 years.
Wow, really the end of an era. Sometimes shows fail due to the end of a technology (steam engines?) and some due to its success (e.g. NCC, West Coast Computer Faire, and now CeBIT).<p>I only attended once. It was by <i>far</i> the largest show I'd attended, bigger even than (by far) shows like CES or the Frankfurt Auto Messe. It was so big that the daily fliers of stuff vendors needed to know were distributed by <i>postmen/postwomen</i>. Yes every booth had its own postal address!
The Hannover Messe was typically more interesting, to me anyway, than the Cebit ("was" as in "I wasn't there in a few years" not "It doesn't exist"). In the Hannover Messe there was always all kinds of absolutely fascinating industrial machinery and robotics, and many of those booths had at least one actual engineer you could talk to.
I have so many great memories of Cebit. My dad used to get tickets for me and friends from work and we would go every year as teenagers to see cool tech across the board (yes, of course we also checked out all the games related stuff).<p>I am glad that a decade later I had my own booth there with my startup at the time...it felt a major milestone!<p>Going to cebit was very formative and has lead to an amazing career in tech that I will be forever grateful for!<p>I worry that younger generations in the region will lack that sort of inspiration in the future.<p>I get it though, the world has changed. You can get better information on most type of products online and talk to experts too...no need to travel to Hannover once a year and be ripped off on booth fee’s and local businesses (hotels, restaurants, bars, etc)
ATi had some Star Trek:TNG LCARS panels installed in 2000 and Klingons in Worf uniforms walk around IIRC. And there was Lara Croft throwing 3dfx t-shirts one of which my dad caught. Those were the days...
I was there several times and it was just not interesting, like at all. Even from a business perspective there was nothing to do. When they changed some things to make it more attractive in 2018 they simply made it even worse.<p>Not surprised that they are shutting it down.
I went there some time in the 90's, I think 1994. My friend and classmate was the son of our local Apple dealer, who got some free tickets. My friend and I skipped school and went there with his dad. While the dad was busy with grown-up stuff, we played Mac games like Spaceship Warlock and F/A-18 Hornet. Afterwards, we got into real trouble with our chemistry teacher for this. Good times.<p>However, by and large the show did seem kind of boring even then, so I never went again.
I was there prob around 2009 - 2010.<p>A lot of halls, but the only thing that I found interesting was a hall dedicated to gaming. With gaming machines, and some tournament-style thing going on.<p>Occasionally walking around there there was some cool tech, but it's not something I ever went since that day. Not worth the travel.<p>[I went as student at the time. But I can't imagine I'd find it more interesting now]
Wonder if anyone of you who visited can compare it to Systems in Munich, preferably ~2000 - 2010?<p>I've never been to Cebit because I had the Systems right at my doorstep and it was awesome in the beginning and a bit meh in the end, so I stopped going.
Was there in 2016 as an exhibitor (for free). It was a pretty average event and the target audience was pretty limited.<p>Even though the jobs/startups that I worked in heavily utilise trade shows, I can't wait for all this BS to go extinct. Go online, choose your SaaS/HW solution, done.
CEBIT is too generic and consumer oriented.<p>Electronica Munich 2018 (electronic components, systems and applications, SEMICON) just ended and it was bigger than ever. There was attached events like eMEC (medical electronics conference) that made it worthwhile for many.
Never been there, now never will.<p>It is that kind of event that was over-hyped.<p>On my city it was called the "startup-killer" because the costs to have a stand there were high (transport, rent, preparation, living costs) and bring zero return for the most.
I never went to Cebit but companies I worked for did attend trade shows in the UK. It was exhausting work, setting the stands up, manning them, evenings out and tearing it all down. It was always lucrative though, we would come away with piles of leads for sales people to follow up.<p>I do miss it, selling stuff over the internet has less friction but it's so impersonal and even dehumanising in many ways.
My father went there sometime around 1990 on a business trip and brougt back a handheld grayscale scanner. The software ran in DOS.<p>My school nootebooks were packed with pictures printed on a dot-matrix printer.