drupa generated controversy in the industry after it mooted the idea of a three-year show cycle

The drupa committee has elected to keep its four-year cycle but shortened the show to eleven days, confirming the dates as May 31st to June 10th 2016.

Having caused controversy with the proposal of a triennial schedule, the committee states that the decision to stick to its quadrennial arrangement is that the 'international trade fair calendar [is] built around the four-yearly cycle of drupa'. This indicates some consideration of the concerns from the print community about the knock-on effects of a change.

The shortening of the show relates to the behaviour and profile of visitors; whereas previously companies would bring larger groups at weekends, this trend has been eschewed by most businesses coming with decision-makers only. "At this year's drupa 78 percent of the international visitors and 52 percent of German visitors came from top management," explains Werner Matthias, chief executive of the Messe Düsseldorf.

"Respectively this is 4 and 5 percentage points more than in 2008. This makes running over two weekends unnecessary. With eleven days – i.e. one weekend and nine working days – we perfectly cater to the needs of both supply and demand."

The committee also appointed Claus Bolza-Schünemann, chief executive of Koenig and Bauer, as chairman of drupa 2016.