Interview with Stefan Dreischärf from the High End Society

STEREO Magazine: Mr. Dreischärf, recently the High End Show in Munich has been postponed from May to September 2021. Why have you made this decision so far in advance?

Dreischärf: First of all, I'd like to say that organising a show at these times is like a roller coaster. One moment, everything goes straight ahead and the next moment you're upside down. As you know, we have invited for the High End 2021 with two seperate dates, one in May, the normal High End date everybody knows, and additionally one in December. To be honest, December was not our preferred date.

Apart from the choice of the event date, I want to clarify that our main focus always lies on our exhibitors. This is very, very important: The exhibitor is our number one priority, since the people don't visit the High End Show because of the High End Society, but they come because of our exhibitors and their products. We do our very best to make everything as smooth and professional and safe as possible and we are convinced that in September we will have a much better and safer situation than in May. That was the reason to postpone the show.

STEREO Magazine: Thank you very much for that answer. Now, if everything goes smoothly, which we all hope, and the show takes place in September just as planned, what are your plans for 2022? Would you go back to scheduling the High End for May, or do you want to keep it in September from then on?

Dreischärf: The High End has become what it is with a date in May. It is the biggest show in high end audio. It doesn't make sense to change the date. But still, we will wait for the reactions and opinions from our exhibitors. The date is not yet fixed, but there is a strong tendency for May.

STEREO Magazine: Thank you very much. Now on to our last question: international travel has become very difficult in times of covid-19, as everybody knows. How has this affected bookings from your international exhibitors?

Dreischärf: Once we have sent the invitation for the High End 2021, we have received orders from many different countries, but at the same time we have received a lot of phone calls and emails regarding international flights. So on the one hand we can see that a lot of our customers want to participate at the show, but also that some are worried about the travel possibilities. After we have postponed the show to September, the booking situation dramatically increased. At the moment, we are nearly fully booked.

STEREO Magazine: That sounds great. Thank you very much for your answers, and for the possibility to to get some insights. We wish you all the best for 2021!

Dreischärf: Thanks for having me.