Strategy in TECH...
Crestron Electronics announced this morning that it has made “the difficult decision to fully cancel our presence” at the rapidly approaching CEDIA Expo 2021, scheduled to start in just about two weeks in Indianapolis, IN. Crestron joins a long list of exhibitors who have also decided to pull out of the event, almost all due to health and safety concerns from the dramatic increase in infections and hospitalizations as a result of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 Delta variant.
I have been covering the rapidly unfolding events as more announcements come every day of companies choosing to withdraw from CEDIA Expo 2021 in the wake of the surging infections from the COVID-19 Delta variant. While several large exhibitors have already announced their decision to pull out of the annual event, there are many more who are thought to be caught somewhere along the path of the decision process – a tough path to walk in an environment that is extremely fluid and changing daily.
One of the top brands rumored to be exiting the show, but has not yet officially announced anything, is Sony. But now, there is a strong reason to believe that Sony has already exited the Expo.
The announcements are coming faster than I can get them written up, as I learned late Friday that Samsung has notified their dealers that they too have pulled out of the CEDIA Expo 2021. Pressure is building on other exhibitors to take a stand. A tipping point may be approaching…
In a note sent to dealers Friday, Sonos said that “after much deliberation” it has decided that it will no longer be participating in the CEDIA Expo 2021 as originally planned. Yet another in a line of exhibitors leaving the event, the company cited “the recent increases in COVID cases and the prevalence of the Delta variant.”
Positioned on prime real estate in the front row of the convention hall, with power brands Sony on one side and Samsung on the other, Sound United says that their booth at next month’s CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis, IN, will remain empty. The company announced today that, like Savant and Snap One before them, they too have decided to pull out of the Expo over concerns about the spike in cases of the COVID Delta variant.
Business guru Tom Peters has written a total of 18 business books selling in the aggregate more than 10,000,000 copies. But just one of those books is itself responsible for about half that total – or 5,000,000 copies. That book, In Search of Excellence, was published in 1982 in collaboration with Robert H. Waterman, Jr. and is to this day considered one of, if not the, most successful business books of all time.
I should note that neither Crestron, nor Randy Klein is featured in the book. But many of the 43 public companies that are profiled in that book as organizations that embraced processes that drive excellence would, in just a few short years after publication, fall into hard times themselves. Companies like Wang Labs, Xerox, and NCR in subsequent years were no longer excellent – and so it would seem that, as the old saying goes, “success is fleeting.”
Strata-gee broke the news to the industry on Tuesday that Savant had announced they were pulling out of CEDIA Expo 2021 due to the surging COVID Delta variant putting employees and attendees at risk. Today, Snap One, another major CEDIA Expo exhibitor has made the same decision, pulling out of the event currently scheduled to launch in just about three weeks from now.
Savant Systems announced today that it has decided to pull out of the CEDIA Expo, scheduled for the beginning of September in Indianapolis, due to concerns surrounding health and safety. As the COVID “Delta” variant continues to fuel a new wave of infections around the country, many potential attendees are likely making the same calculation.
Emerald, the exposition company that owns CEDIA Expo, announced this week that they will again field a TechStarter competition at CEDIA Expo 2021. TechStarter, the show says, is sort of a tech-specific version of ABCs Shark Tank show, where exhibitors in the show’s “Launchpad” section – the section that used to be known as Innovation Alley – get to pitch their business models to the judges (comprised of top industry executives) in the hopes of being selected as one of the TechStarter FIVE.
Moody’s Investors Service, one of the top global credit and bond rating agencies, announced last week that it has raised the credit rating on Wirepath LLC (dba Snap One) based on its successful completion of an initial public offering of shares of the company’s stock. This is good news for Snap One and potential investors.
