Strategy in TECH...
As I am sure that most readers of this post will know, during CEDIA Expo at the beginning of September, I published a continuously updated post tracking which previously announced exhibitors subsequently made the decision to pull out of the event as the COVID Delta variant raged on. A remarkable realization occurred as I worked on that post, literally speaking with dozens, if not hundreds, of exhibitors and attendees for that event – many of them were confused about who owned the CEDIA Expo!
Last Friday, Strata-gee broke the news that both Cheena Srinivasan and Michael Malcolm, co-founders of Kaleidescape, had left the company recently to pursue new opportunities. (A third co-founder, Dan Collens, left the company back in 2006.) Kaleidescape, the leading media server manufacturer in the upscale residential space, is an important supplier to many custom integrators, so this is a big change. Late Friday, after Strata-gee broke the news of the change, the company put out a formal statement on the situation.
Melrose PLC, the private equity turnaround expert that purchased the entirety of Nortek back in 2016, unceremoniously let it slip in a bullet point of a report on financial results, that it has found a buyer for the last remaining piece of the Nortek puzzle they have struggled to turn around over the years. Although they did not name the buyer, Melrose says a contract has been signed for a $285 million deal – remarkably low considering all the brands included in this transaction.
Snap One Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SNPO) announced the results of their fiscal second quarter, the period that ended June 25, 2021. This is the first official report to investors for the newly public company, and Snap One executives were excited to talk about all the positive milestones they achieved in the quarter – first and foremost, launching a successful public offering. Aside from a technical glitch in their conference call with analysts, it was all good news from the company.
What a crazy couple of weeks it has been for exhibitors of CEDIA Expo 2021, and also for potential attendees who watched a slow-motion train wreck unfold right in front of their eyes. It was almost exactly two weeks ago – on August 10th – when Savant CEO Robert Madonna suddenly announced that Savant was pulling out of CEDIA, due to concerns over the surging infections from the Delta variant of COVID-19.
Little did we know then that this was the trickle before the flood…
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.
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.
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.
