The biggest trade fair that has the biggest chunk of the global airsoft industry attending, the IWA Outdoor Classics, has started preparation for next year’s events after cancelling the 2020 event due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst many are still have the hatches battened down as we wait for the pandemic to blow over or until a vaccine becomes widely available, events organisers are looking forward to 2021 and are working on resuming business, though it won’t be as business as usual due to hygiene and safety precautions.

For the preparations of 2021 edition of the IWA Outdoor Classics, the organisers are taking precautions in line with guidelines of the State of Bavaria, where Nuremberg is located. According to them over 900 exhibitors have already signed up and they are expecting more to join the growing list.

Checking the exhibitor list, some of the regular exhibitors have already confirmed: RedWolf Airsoft, LCT Airsoft, ICS Airsoft, Cybergun, G&G Armament, Gunfire/Specna Arms, King Arms, Modify-Tech, Nuprol, SRC, TAGinn, Tippmann Valken, VFC, and more.

The airsoft community will be looking forward to this event again as it is one of the biggest global gatherings of the airsoft industry, media and community. This means also that the annual Airsoft Meetup will be proceeding in preparations as well.

As always, given these times, we shall be monitoring developments in preparation for the event given that the Covid-19 pandemic is still happening and a second wave is expected once the cold season starts setting in. The hope is not it won’t be as severe as the first wave and that authorities are more than ready this time to mitigate its effects.

We hope to see you at IWA Outdoor Classics 2021, we really do. More on the preparations from the organisers below:

Green light for IWA 2021 – preparations on target

All eyes are on the future and so far, more than 900 companies have already signed up to participate. The sector will gather in Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 12 to 15 March 2021. A detailed hygiene concept offers exhibitors and visitors a safe and successful trade fair attendance.

“From 1 September 2020, it will be admissible for trade fairs and congresses to be held in Bavaria. The basis for this development is the Bavarian government’s hygiene concept. The implementation of this concept will provide the underlying conditions to host a safe IWA OutdoorClassics 2021 here in Nuremberg,” says Petra Wolf from the NürnbergMesse management board. She continues: “NürnbergMesse is well prepared. Stricter hygiene standards are, as the name says, standards. Thanks to the ample space available at the exhibition centre we are planning to make the aisles wider to allow social distancing in the aisles as well. We are offering our exhibitors and visitors a separate catering hall, separate meeting facilities for exhibitors to allow them to conduct meetings away from their own stand in the event of bottlenecks at their own stand area. In addition, our ventilation concept ensures that the air in all halls is always fresh. We completely replace the entire volume of air several times an hour and do not use treated recirculated air.”

The Bavarian government’s hygiene concept stipulates that exhibitors are obliged to record the contact details of their interlocutors separately (in the case of discussions where face masks are not worn). NürnbergMesse is providing technical support to exhibitors in this context by making the lead tracking system “LeadSuccess” available. Contactless payment, which we have become used to meanwhile in our everyday lives, will be available in all areas (catering, kiosks, parking zones) and is another component of the hygiene concept.

NürnbergMesse has produced a separate hygiene concept for exhibitors and their stand design:
www.iwa.info/hygieneconcept

The IWA Event Team is on hand with expert advice in the event of any questions regarding implementation.

For information on the hygiene concept and protective measures for visitors and exhibitors please go to:
www.iwa.info/protective-measures

Exhibitor registration numbers inspire confidence

The excellent registration numbers seven months ahead of the event are testimony to the huge commitment the sector is making to its very own IWA OutdoorClassics: “The cancellation of IWA 2020 caught us all off guard. As a result, we are all even more delighted that more than 900 exhibitors have already committed to attending IWA 2021. This sends us a strong message about how much the sector wants to meet up and interact again and how important and valuable the annual gathering is for it. And we intend to do our utmost to bring this about! The event team is working extremely hard with passion and enthusiasm on the preparations for March 2021. Even if the coronavirus crisis is still not over by the beginning of next year, as things stand today the IWA will take place! Thanks to our hygiene concept we are ideally equipped to carry out an IWA trade fair even under the conditions imposed by the coronavirus. We are confident that we can offer all our customers a safe and successful event of the kind you know and love from your previous IWA industry gatherings! And if infection rates continue to decline, we also envisage the possibility of relaxing the obligatory mask wearing,” says Rebecca Schönfelder, Exhibition Director, IWA OutdoorClassics.

Trade visitors can therefore already look forward again to the numerous exhibits from traditional gunsmiths and cutlers with their centuries of history, as well as cutting-edge production technology for high-precision sporting firearms and sights. “The IWA will once again become the exciting experience and networking hub that we have all missed this year! We are looking forward to bringing the sector together again at IWA 2021,” says Schönfelder.

Trade visitors only

The IWA OutdoorClassics is organised by NürnbergMesse and sponsored by VDB (Association of German Gunsmiths and Gun Traders) and JSM (German Firearms and Ammunition Manufacturers Association). This event is exclusively for trade visitors. Children and young people under 18 years of age are not allowed to attend. Tickets for the IWA OutdoorClassics will be issued only to visitors from appropriate specialist suppliers, official agencies and security companies on presentation of relevant credentials.

The next IWA OutdoorClassics will take place from 12 to 15 March 2021.

Top photo: IWA Outdoor Classics 2019 (NuernbergMesse / Thomas Geiger)