DUSSELDORF, GERMANY—  Drupa 2021 is about to enter a critical period with exhibitors required to confirm any changes to their booth sizes by the end of August. Drupa announced that the show would be shortened from 11 to nine days. Several high profile exhibitors have pulled out including Heidelberg, Komori ,  Xerox and Bobst . Others have  said they were still supporting Drupa such as  Koenig & Bauer and Windmoller & Holscher . During July Drupa published new guidance around how future trade shows will run in a ‘Covid-secure’ environment .The new guidance has implications for exhibitors in terms of how their exhibition space will need to be layed out, and what sort of showcases and demonstrations will be possible. Drupa was originally scheduled for June 16 – 26, 2020 and then  postponed to April 20 – 30, 2021. Some have compared what is happening to Drupa with  happened with Ipex the world's oldest printing trade show ( started in 1880)  which died in 2018 after exhibitors started pulling out. 2021 does not look a good year for printing trade shows.