(wm-pcp) Ten days before the registration deadline, 13 members of the preparation team met for the first time in a long time for a two-day real meeting instead of a Zoom conference. The agenda included 24 topics, but in the end there were a few more.

The smaller working groups presented the progress they had made so far, while the larger group dealt with issues such as finances, rooms and their use, possibilities for expansion, e.g. for study groups, the upcoming PR planning, the printed matter programme, but also the special shows, treasury, catering and much more.

“We are well on time and on track,” confirmed BDPh and Team President Alfred Schmidt, and Event Director Jan Billion was pleased with a decision that admission to IBRA 2023 will be free. “This is of great importance, especially at this time, because inflation and cost explosions, not only in the field of energy, are already hammering people enough,” he said.

Everyone was of the opinion that everything must be done to offer many people the opportunity to visit this world exhibition despite all imponderables such as the Corona pandemic or the Ukraine war. IBRA Head of Organisation Wolfgang Maassen summed up the outcome of this first meeting as follows: “It is far more fruitful to have met face to face once again and we made very good use of the time.”