Startup Conference “Bits & Pretzels”, Munich

This 3-day conference for those starting or thinking about starting a business has been held in Munich since 2014. Well-known entrepreneurs, investors and young business people meet at the "Bits & Pretzels" festival to discuss trends and innovations. The first two days of the conference at Munich's International Congress Center (ICM) feature keynote speeches, workshops, panel discussions, master classes and a start-up competition. The festival activities are rounded off by an associated exhibition of start-up enterprises. The speakers on the main stage and many of the attendees wear traditional costumes to underline the connection between Bavarian tradition and innovation. The third day is dedicated to networking, which is why the attendees gather in a beer tent at the Oktoberfest, during which "Bits & Pretzels" has been held since 2015.

2015 was also the year that we joined the event as a partner for technical realisation. The constantly rising attendance figures reached their current peak in 2019, one reason for this surely being that former president of the United States Barack Obama had agreed to speak at the opening ceremony. This took place in front of 8,000 registered attendees in hall C1 of the Messe München, directly adjoining the ICM. This presented us with a tight schedule as, after the opening day, the stage and technical equipment in hall C1 had to be dismantled straight away to make room for the following fair.

Our main focus during the opening ceremony was on the video projection, for which we used 12 projectors, each with 31,000 ANSI lumens, to cover a width of 56 metres – in other words almost the whole width of the hall. The three main elements of the projection surface were merged into one overall image using a dual softedge projection for each element. The creative team from N&M digital media used Watchout multiscreen presentation software to shape the content created by "Bits & Pretzels" into a harmonious overall display.

We also provided the congress technology for those parts of the event held in the ICM. Together with the organiser and the director hired for the occasion, we developed the set design and specified the equipment required for its implementation. We additionally assumed this task for hall 14, where we created the set with Layher system elements.

Photos: Bert Willer, Dan Taylor, Kilian Vitt