Best Exhibitor Award (BEA)

CBS - Best Exhibitor Award

These are the top 10 results in our slide show from the awards ceremony yesterday.

Key information for Exhibitors

The Best Exhibitor Award at ITB Berlin provides a unique benchmark for trade fair performance in the tourism industry.
All booths at the ITB Berlin are evaluated by trained CBS students according to a scientifically developed criteria catalogue (see below).
There is no need to register for the BEA as all exhibitors at the ITB Berlin are evaluated.
You are sorted in one of 10 categories (see below).
There is two evaluation rounds, with the first focusing on customer contact and B2B booth performance. The second round also assesses the exhibitors communication and sustainability efforts.
The award show will take place in hall 7.1 on Thursday the 9^th of March at 18:30. All prize winners will receive an invitation during the Thursday.
For any questions please contact us at bea@cbs.de

Coveted award in the tourism industry

Since 2000, the CBS International Business School has been presenting the Best Exhibitor Award (BEA) to exhibitors at ITB Berlin.

Since then, the BEA has become one of the most coveted prizes awarded at ITB Berlin and has established itself as a firm benchmark in the industry. All - meaning several thousand - exhibitors are evaluated in a total of 11 categories based on a detailed catalogue of criteria. After a break of a few years, ITB Berlin 2023 is back as a physical trade show together with the BEA. An international team of students from various CBS International Business School locations will evaluate all stands in two rounds during the three days of the trade fair and award the best exhibitors during a big award show on Thursday evening.

Active participation by students

The CBS team of 15 students has the opportunity to actively participate in shaping the BEA and therefore put their knowledge from class into practice. The students work in teams and are not only involved in the organisation in the run-up, but are especially involved on site in evaluating the exhibition stands. A special highlight is the award ceremony, the so-called Best Exhibitor Award Show, in whose planning and organisation the students actively participate. In addition to the valuable practical experience the students gain through their participation, they also benefit from the many company contacts they make during the ITB Berlin. In cooperation with the Cologne-based management consultancy co:compass, the university team, as a partner of the ITB Berlin, will evaluate the areas of design, creativity, stand layout, B2B area, service, communication and information as well as the overall impression and award prizes in eleven categories to the best trade fair appearances.

"For years, I have experienced the CBS tourism students at the ITB Berlin and through the discussions with the professors, I learned how practically oriented and industry-relevant the CBS students are prepared for a career in tourism."

Klaus Laepple, Honorary President of the DRV

Procedure

The evaluation of all exhibition stands is subject to a detailed catalogue of criteria, which has been constantly optimised over the past 20 years in order to minimise the subjective influence of the evaluators on the evaluation. The decisive criterion for stand evaluations is not the financial strength of the exhibitor, but quality features such as stand design, service competence, information transfer and authenticity. As ITB Berlin will be a pure B2B trade show from 2023, the focus will be on the attractiveness and benefits for trade visitors. In terms of stand design, the presentation of content, accessibility and structuring of the stand will be assessed above all. The heart of every stand is the staff and service. What counts here is the uniform appearance, the optimal number of staff in relation to the size of the stand and the friendliness and competence of the advice given. In order to ensure the greatest possible transparency and objectivity, two evaluation rounds take place. In the first run, all stands are first checked according to three core criteria (first impression, classification of the business area and stand design). All stands that meet these criteria will be further evaluated for their B2B stand performance and overall impression. Subsequently, the top 10 stands in each category will be re-evaluated by a different team of evaluators. In this final run, additional criteria are added, such as the sustainability of the stand construction and trade fair events. The points from the two rounds are added together and the average is calculated. To achieve the highest possible objectivity, an evaluation training in the run-up to and at the start of the fair is obligatory for all evaluators.

Awards ceremony

The Best Exhibitor Award Show - now new from 2023 on the evening of the last day of the fair - has become increasingly important among exhibitors: In the past, for example, it was not unusual for the awards to be received by tourism ministers, ambassadors and other distinguished personalities from a wide range of nations. For most award winners, the Best Exhibitor Award is a visible recognition of their efforts in international marketing. In addition, the Best Exhibitor Award Show demonstrates the multifaceted nature and cultural diversity of tourism and honours what attracts trade fair visitors: the most appealing and service-oriented trade fair presentations possible that enable a successful trade fair visit.

Follow the Best Exhibitor Award on Instagram to trace our progress and procedure: https://www.instagram.com/bea.itb.ber/