Should a coffee expo limit who gets in?

An international coffee exhibition in Beijing drew large crowds but left many coffee enthusiast attendees disappointed. Free admission with no entry requirements brought in non-professional visitors alongside industry people. Exhibitors offering giveaways such as drip bags, instant coffee, and branded merchandise, plus free tastings, drew long queues. Some attendees said the hall felt more like a market than a trade event, and visitors described having to watch products, dodge strollers, and guard their belongings.

The debate now centers on whether organizers should set entry requirements to protect the experience. Supporters argue that screening visitors would keep the focus on specialty products and equipment, letting people compare beans, gear such as a machine for making coffee, and techniques without competing for space. Others counter that open admission broadens interest in coffee. Exhibitors and attendees alike are waiting to see whether future events change their format.

A recent international coffee exhibition held in Beijing sparked widespread discussion. The venue was packed and buzzing with excitement, yet many coffee enthusiasts who attended found that the professional atmosphere they had expected was diluted by the surging crowds. Free admission attracted a large number of non-professional visitors, and money-saving guides even led to long queues in front of some booths. Some lamented that the exhibition was increasingly resembling a market, while others called on the organizers to set entry requirements to safeguard the experience. What exactly happened at this coffee exhibition? Let's take a look at the real situation on site.

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Recently, Beijing welcomed an international coffee exhibition, and countless coffee enthusiasts headed there upon hearing the news. Some hoped to exchange ideas with industry insiders, some planned to pick out a few coffee beans they liked, and others wanted to get a close look at coffee equipment and devices.

So a large number of people made a special trip over on their weekend free time, only to step into the exhibition hall and find not the specialty products carefully displayed by exhibitors from various regions, but a dense sea of people.

According to netizens on site, some exhibitors prepared giveaways such as drip bags, instant coffee, and branded merchandise for visiting audiences, while other booths offered free tastings, thus attracting quite a few visitors who came specifically to "hunt for freebies" and lined up in long queues in front of the stalls. Some said bluntly that the whole exhibition site was rather like an old-time country fair, and being there let you truly understand the meaning of the phrase "shoulder to shoulder."

It is said that this coffee exhibition did not set any admission requirements for visitors and did not charge a fee, which led to the crowd including not only coffee enthusiasts with clear demands, but also all kinds of tourists such as middle-aged and elderly people who came to watch the excitement and parents pushing baby strollers. Some visitors said they had to keep an eye on the products at each booth, constantly look down to avoid bumping into children, and also watch over their backpacks and personal belongings, exclaiming that one pair of eyes was simply not enough.

In addition, some netizens pointed out that the "freebie-hunting guides" circulating on social platforms made many people who saw the posts rush to the booths to queue for giveaways and drink coffee, which was also one of the factors causing long queues at multiple stalls.

In most people's eyes, a coffee exhibition should be more professional than a coffee festival. At an exhibition, you can see machines and equipment, coffee bean suppliers, and so on, and you can exchange insights with coffee professionals and learn about industry trends.

However, in the view of some coffee enthusiasts, the experience at this coffee exhibition was far inferior to some coffee festival events carefully planned by organizers. They said that while being pushed around by the crowd in the venue, their original expectations were gradually worn away. From afar, upon seeing booths with long queues, they just wanted to leave quickly. In the end, they did not even have the mood to buy equipment and coffee beans, and were left with nothing but exhaustion.

Users with exhibition experience mentioned that coffee exhibitions they had attended in the past included lectures and explanatory sessions, and on site they could communicate and discuss with many coffee professionals, making for a very good overall experience. But in recent years, organizers have lowered the threshold for entering audiences again and again, resulting in today's coffee exhibitions being noisy and crowded, and when you walk into the venue you momentarily feel as if you have arrived at some shopping mall or supermarket running a promotion.

In order to get a better visiting experience, some experienced people avoid the peak crowds, enter early, communicate with the professionals they want to meet, quickly purchase coffee beans and equipment, and leave before the large crowds pour in.

Coffee is becoming increasingly popular in China, and the number of coffee enthusiasts hoping to deepen their understanding through professional events continues to grow. For them, a coffee exhibition that gathers professionals is undoubtedly a platform for exchange and improvement.

But in recent years, coffee exhibitions have drawn more and more visitors, and on-site management has been chaotic. Freebie hunters and people going around for free tastings have brought a poor experience to exhibitors and other visitors, and also make people feel that coffee exhibitions are losing their original professional positioning.

Many netizens suggested that organizers perhaps should screen entering visitors, or charge a certain ticket fee, in order to control on-site foot traffic and provide a good exhibition experience for exhibitors and visitors who have come from afar.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.