W hat work needs to be done to en sure that events are accessible Where do the challenges lie for those organising inclusive events How are standards set and are additional costs inevitable Michael Biwer Messe Frankfurt s vice president with responsibility for guest events answered these questions in conversation with two industry experts Ker stin Hoffmann Wagner an event consultant and Dagmar Krutzki the managing director of SightCity the trade fair devoted to aids for the blind and partially sighted There is an awareness of the issue and there are statuto ry provisions in place began Biwer who hosted the discussion But there is still scope for improvement when it comes to im plementation When many people think about accessi bility what comes to their mind is a ramp reported Dagmar Krutzki But that is to dis regard a number of groups of people The blind and partially sighted the deaf and peo ple with chronic or mental disabilities She pointed out that companies spend massive amounts of money to promote themselves when they could do a great deal for their rep utations by introducing measures to improve readability or accessibility It is not enough for them to restrict themselves to construc tion measures The process actually begins much earlier on the event website or when tickets are ordered according to Krutzki It helps when content is compiled using suit able technology and when simple readable language and larger fonts are used It is im portant to sensitise staff to the issues and create awareness There is still ground to make up here said Krutzki who wants a change of perspective Sustainability also came up in the dis cussion Kerstin Hoffmann Wagner argued that this is often focused on carbon emis sions whereas she believes other aspects al so need to be taken into account By way of example she explained that only 22 percent of railway stations in Germany are accessi ble which makes it impossible for some peo ple to come to events by rail a means of of transport with low emissions However she pointed out that there are almost always so lutions either technical solutions or carbon offsetting whatever the challenges Hoff mann Wagner recommended choosing ven ues with as much accessibility as possible so that organisers can build on this It is possi ble for example to add temporary guidance systems that can be removed without a trace afterwards She advised entering negotiations at an early stage to keep costs down Includ ing a ramp in the design of an exhibition stand right from the outset does not neces sarily make the stand more expensive An 14 FOCUS TradeFairs Internation al 3 4 2023 Control 2024 QA with more and more applications The 36th Control an interna tional trade fair for qualityassurance will be taking place from 23 to 26 April 2024 showcasing the latest products in the fields of vision technolo gy image processing sensor technology and measuring and testing technology Internation al exhibitors are also keen to present their latest products in Stuttgart next year Control of fers quality assurance profes sionals a unique opportunity to get together according to the decision makers at the private sector trade fair organiser Schall The event presents a va riety of types of measurement technology across different industries The quality assur ance industry is booming and new fields of application are continually being identified The field of quality control and quality assur ance is growing constantly according to Schall driven by zero defect manufacturing automation and digitalisation The automa tion and digitalisation of quality assurance are also driving forward the development of tech nology AI supported testing processes are now very common The digital representation of processes infrastructure and components in real time is becoming increasingly impor tant as virtual systems are now essential for forecasting and optimisation Digital process es enable companies to identify quality is sues and their causes more quickly The test ing of the attributes and qualities of parts and products during the production process is essential to production quality Efficiency resource management and sustainability can be implemented by means of modern meas uring and testing methods www schall messen de GERMANY How can events improve accessibility Messe Frankfurt s Locations Talk was held again in the summer The digital event concerned itself this time with the requirements of people with disabilities Ph ot o S ch al l

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