On a digital voyage of discovery

Offering digital services that make participation in the exhibition even more attractive for customers - that is an important goal of NürnbergMesse. But how can the many good ideas of the employees be implemented? The model in the digital workshop "New Business Camp", for which employees could apply, is the creative methods and agile working of successful start-ups.

The first step for the employees on their digital journey of discovery was 500 characters. From trainee to division manager, each of the over 500 employees of NürnbergMesse was called upon to apply for the digital workshop "New Business Camp" with a short text. In just a few words, the employees were to express why they are the right candidate for the training programme.

A handful of employees were finally selected from the numerous applications. This is because part of the concept of the workshop is that the participants represent a diverse cross-section of the company in terms of their levels of responsibility and activities. For example, participants come from the event teams, the IT department and digital marketing, among others. "The different perspectives of the participants and the creative working environment created a whole dynamic of its own. We were virtually drawn into the topics," reports Manja Rupprecht, one of the participants from the Marketing department.

To kick off the digital workshop, the participants went to Berlin. They got a taste of the start-up atmosphere and got to know the capital's start-up scene up close. In the following workshops, the employees are then taught agile methods. Step by step, they are to identify problems according to the principle of design thinking , develop ideas and solutions and test them on prototypes directly at trade fairs.

On the first day of the workshop, for example, the aim was to work out the needs of a fictitious customer in an interview. From the results, the participants were to develop ideas for products that would significantly increase customer satisfaction. Failure is explicitly allowed - but as early as possible and without great cost. "Testing the product again and again on the basis of a prototype and thus approaching the needs of the customer step by step, that was the exciting thing for me!", says Manja Rupprecht.

The workshop participants will next test their developments live at a NürnbergMesse trade fair. The trade fair employees will be guided by experts from the etventure agency. "The working methods of start-ups and established companies differ enormously in some cases. We are convinced that both sides can learn from each other," says Ines Räth, from project management at etventure.

Back at the company, the participants of the "New Business Camp" should apply the knowledge they have learned to issues in their everyday lives. By sharing the methods with their colleagues, they will also initiate their own development processes.

Employees of NürnbergMesse already proved last year that agile working and "design thinking" lead to valuable results. At a workshop, they developed ideas that are currently being further developed into concrete applications. For example, a gastronomy app is based on the ideas of the employees. In the future, this will inform trade fair visitors about the menu and location of the various restaurants on the exhibition grounds.