LG Electronics plans to attend bare-bones IFA 2020

Park Il-pyung

LG Electronics will attend the IFA 2020 trade show in Berlin in September, as the company’s chief technology officer Park Il-pyung is set to take the stage at the main press conference.

The company, however, will not be setting up a massive exhibition booth as it used to, with the trade show planning for a much more contained event due to concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic.

This will be Park’s third time speaking at a global trade show, following his appearances at IFA 2018 and CES 2019 in Las Vegas.

The upcoming speech at IFA 2020 will take place at the global press conference on Sept. 3. According to the company, Park’s speech this year will point out the “new norms” in our daily lives after the Covid-19 outbreak and suggest how LG will serve consumers and corporate clients at a time when people inevitably have to spend more time at home.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic’s global spread, a score of world-class trade shows have been canceled or postponed. IFA 2020 — one of the largest trade shows in home electronics — plans to run as an invitation-only event, instead of being open to the public. It will be held for three days from Sept. 3 to 5.

However, it’s unlikely that this year’s event will see companies exhibit their products on the scale of previous years. IFA 2020 will mainly be about four real-life events, including the press conference, which won’t allow more than 1,000 attendees for each.

Despite having participated in the event with IFA since 1991, Samsung Electronics decided earlier in June to skip this year’s show for good.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]