Strategy in TECH...
CEDIA Expo opens this week, with education sessions starting today and the show floor opening tomorrow. As Strata-gee has been reporting, over the last three weeks literally hundreds of exhibitors have pulled out of the event over concerns surrounding the surge of infections due to the Delta variant of COVID-19. With Emerald expositions vowing to forge ahead with the event no matter what, attendees to the event – whether many or few – will find themselves at a very different CEDIA Expo.
CEDIA Expo 2021, scheduled to run in less than two weeks from September 1-3, 2021 in Indianapolis, IN, has been steadily shrinking over the last ten days or so, as exhibitors began pulling out in the face of the rapid expansion of COVID infections due to the Delta variant. Emerald, the exposition company that owns the CEDIA Expo, has said they are going forward no matter what – even though their data shows that more than 100 exhibitors have pulled out of the event in the last two weeks.
On Wednesday, Emerald emailed a letter to exhibitors that appears to be an attempt to stem the outflow of companies that have canceled their participation in the CEDIA Expo 2021 – 42 brands according to Strata-gee’s tracking – and encourage those exhibitors that have not yet abandoned the show from leaving. Signed by Emerald executives Brian Pagel and Jason McGraw, the letter declared “the show is still very much on as planned.”
Sonance, a leading supplier of custom integration speakers and electronics, announced today that they will “withdraw from exhibiting at the 2021 CEDIA Expo,” much as several other exhibitors have decided over the last few days. In fact, today has been a big day for such withdrawals – almost a third of all companies who announced they were pulling out of the show, made that announcement today.
This morning, within just minutes of Crestron’s announcement, Lutron announced that they too have decided to withdraw from CEDIA Expo 2021. One of the top lighting control and systems providers to custom integrators, this announcement is likely to hit hard, as potential attendees weigh whether attending the show will be worth their time, and their added risk in the face of the rapid spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19.
<<NOTE on 2nd MASSIVE Update: Scroll to the bottom of this page to learn more about a second MASSIVE list update on 8/25>>This past week brought a surprising turn of events while we were all preoccupied with preparations for the rapidly approaching CEDIA Expo 2021 show that is just about 3 weeks away in Indianapolis, IN at the Indiana Convention Center. The surprise is that some exhibitors began to pull out of the event in response to the national increase in infections resulting from the COVID-19 Delta variant.
The first to take a stand was Savant, who announced last Tuesday that they would sit out this year’s Expo in order to ensure the safety of their employees, partners, and customers in the face of the surging Delta variant. Within 48 hours, other exhibitors began to join them in making the same decision and by the end of the week, at least six major brands, all large exhibitors representing literally thousands of square feet of exhibit space, had announced or otherwise informed their dealer base that they had decided to pull out of the Expo.
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…
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.
Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE:EEX), owner of the CEDIA Expo show, reported its results for the second quarter of fiscal 2021 confirming that the company lost $46.5 million in the quarter as it continues to struggle with the impact of COVID-19. Clearly, the pandemic slammed the live event and exposition industry and even as coronavirus begins to wane, the industry is finding it difficult to return to normal.
