WOMEX runs the last October weekend of every year. Starting on a Wednesday afternoon from 15:00 with early-bird registration, stand set-up, and then the WOMEX Opening night with the first Showcase/s. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday come the principal days with the full Conference, Film Market, Trade Fair and Showcase programmes. Sunday hosts the WOMEX Awards ceremony and the remaining Trade Fair day until 14:00. It’s the last opportunity to make contacts and wind down with a leisurely lunch and a final good-bye.

Trade Fair: Open from Thursday morning 9:00 and closing on Sunday 14:00, the Trade Fair is the nervecentre of WOMEX. Our equal-stands-for-all rule and keep-the-volume-down policy help create the uniqueWOMEX ambience so different from any other music fairs.

"WOMEX was such a transforming and inspiring experience for me... a defining moment of solidarity and strength for music producers and promoters!" -- Skinder Hundal, Sampad South Asian Arts, UK

Conference: The Conference is the think-tank of music producers, makers and shakers and the delegates' chance to grab the attention of fellow participants. Informative, educational, even controversial speakers are selected to present their topics. In 2008 two new features were added: Master Classes and Mentoring Sessions. The Master Classes cover first and foremost practical issues. The Mentoring Sessions offer free, private consultations with experienced colleagues from a wide variety of fields.

Film Market: The self-contained Film Market for music documentaries, DVDs and video clips is organised in cooperation with the International Music + Media Centre IMZ, Vienna, and presents a series of exciting new films on music themes.

Showcases: And then comes the music. All night. Every night. The Showcases continue our policy of presenting the widest possible range of global music stars, secrets and discoveries, with or without a record contract. WOMEX presents more than three dozen exciting official Showcases on four stages plus an extra offWOMEX Stage.

"Thank you so much for everything you did to make WOMEX such a fantastic festival and promotion center for world music. […] The impact of this showcase is great: we have got very warm response, good media interviews, and several contracts have been well on the way, with a tour of an estimated minimum of 20 concerts for 2009 – 2010." -- Dr. Risheng Wang, Philmultic Management & Productions, Canada, on his WOMEX 08 Daycase

"A highly respected world music conference and trade show […]. World music icons such asCesaria Evora, Mariza and Tinariwen launched their international careers there." -- Grammy – The Recording Academy in your Community

Awards: The prestigious WOMEX Awards honour quality, creativity and success in global music on the international level. The WOMEX Top Label Award is the latest addition, honouring world music labels who have charted most in Europe.

Radio WOMEX Studio: Introduced in 2006, a fully equipped radio studio where broadcasters the world over can interview Conference speakers and artists – many of whom perform live right in the studio. WOMEX delegates are invited, making the studio one more way for artists and the professional community to meet.

WOMEX TV Studio: Since 2007 WOMEX features a TV Studio run by Mondomix. It is open to WOMEXicans who will be able to watch live interviews of artists and professionals conducted by our team of journalists.

WOMEX "pulls together the global World Music Community to talk business, share wares and generally party late into the night while everyone tries to catch-up with the last twelve month´s news." -- Brian Heywood, Dunstable Gazette, UK