Messe Frankfurt and XING AG start cooperation

Messe Frankfurt and XING AG are planning an exclusive cooperation aimed at developing online communities and services for their trade fair visitors. A Letter of Intent to this effect has now just been signed in Frankfurt. Germany’s leading trade fair company and Europe’s leading online network for business professionals intend to develop a range of products and applications over the coming months after a successful test phase. Two special communities are being launched with immediate effect – aimed at exhibitors, visitors and interested parties for the “Musikmesse” and “Prolight+Sound” trade fairs respectively.  

“This new offer makes it easy for all our trade fair visitors to maintain their network within the context of the particular industry represented at the event. This means they can remain in contact with useful contacts even once the trade fair itself has come to an end,” said Michael von Zitzewitz, Chairman of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt.

“We’re delighted that Messe Frankfurt will be incorporating our XING En-terprise Groups into the communication with their many millions of trade fair visitors,” commented Burkhard Blum, COO of XING AG.

These new Enterprise Groups can be found online at

musikmesse.xing.com and

prolight-sound.xing.com. Here, users can take advantage of all of the usually functionalities available on XING, tailored to the respective exhibition. This includes the integration of news and information specific to the trade fair, as well as group events and searches of those people attending.  

Members can also find the latest news from the industry and find out how to attend the world’s leading trade fairs and other exclusive specialist events within these groups.

Over the coming months, both partners plan to implement a similar group for the consumer goods trade fair “Tendence” as well. Other features and offers will be developed at the same time as part of the cooperation, de-signed to appeal to the 7 million XING members and Messe Frankfurt’s millions of trade fair visitors.


Background information on Messe Frankfurt
Messe Frankfurt is Germany’s largest trade fair organiser, with 436 million euros in sales in 2008 (figure as of November 2008) and more than 1,400 employees worldwide. The Messe Frankfurt Group has a global network of 29 subsidiaries, five branch offices and 48 international Sales Partners, giving it a presence for its customers in more than 150 countries. Events “made by Messe Frankfurt” take place at more than 30 locations around the globe. In 2008, Messe Frankfurt organised more than 100 trade fairs, of which more than half took place outside Germany.
Messe Frankfurt’s exhibition grounds, featuring 322,000 square metres of exhibition space, are currently home to nine exhibition halls and an adjacent Congress Center. The company is publicly owned, with the City of Frankfurt holding 60 percent and the State of Hesse 40 percent.

For more information, please visit our website at:

www.messefrankfurt.com Background information about XING AG
XING is the leading network for business contacts in Europe. Far more than a directory of business contacts, XING makes your professional network an active part of your life, enabling members to discover pro-fessional people, opportunities and privileges through its unique discovery capability and advanced contact management tools. With the successful IPO of XING as the first Web 2.0 company to go public, XING AG has had a long-term impact on the social networking trend amongst professionals. By focusing on the target group 'business people worldwide', the company is able to offer tailored features, thereby making networking and contact management simpler. Besides Headquarters in Hamburg, XING AG is also represented with offices in Barcelona, Istanbul and Beijing.
XING. Powering Relationships.

Press contacts:
Messe Frankfurt GmbH
Markus Quint
Tel.    +49 69 75 75-5905
Fax    +49 69 75 75-58 83

markus.quint@messefrankfurt.com

www.messefrankfurt.com

XING AG
Thorsten Vespermann
Tel.    +49 419131-763
Fax    +49 40 419131-11

Thorsten.Vespermann@xing.com

www.xing.com