Strategy in TECH...
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.
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.
A group of industry manufacturer sales representatives in the Southwest has partnered with Samsung to produce one of the first in-person industry dealer events in more than a year called the TOLA Expo. The event, which takes place on June 29-30, 2021 covers a huge region – organizers refer to it as a “super-regional show” – drawing from the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas…hence, TOLA.
In a press release distributed Wednesday morning, Integrated Systems Events (part of Integrated Systems Europe) announced the conclusion of their annual ISE event, this year in Barcelona, Spain for the first time on June 1-2. It was a hybrid-style event, offering an online or virtual conference as well as an in-person event with exhibitors in the Fira de Barcelona exhibition center. The organizers heralded the event as helping “the industry getting back to business.”
What’s this? A tech industry trade show, scheduled to take place in September is cancelled? Yes, it’s true…but it’s not the CEDIA Expo. In fact, it is IFA, a large consumer and trade tech show in Germany that is said to be the world’s largest tech exposition. Promoters have decided to cancel the live event due to continuing uncertainties surrounding COVID.
Emerald Holding Inc. (NYSE:EEX), formerly Emerald Expositions Events Inc., the national B2B exposition company that owns the CEDIA Expo show as well as certain industry publications such as CE Pro, announced last week financial results for their fiscal first quarter. The news was bleak with a massive decline in revenues and a large net loss as the company is still suffering from the impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Emerald made several other announcements as well. The company says it has acquired an online photography education business, and – perhaps more ominously – it has filed a lawsuit against their event cancellation insurance providers.
LWith great fanfare, Crestron kicked off their annual festival of all things Crestron – Crestron Masters 2021 – with a keynote address titled “Innovation Fuels Us.” And in a bit of irony, Mother Nature, or should I sway Mother Internet, reminded us all of who’s in charge by causing the program to suddenly stop at about five minutes in. About fifteen minutes or so later, the program started again and, save for a couple of stutters later, attendees were entertained with an impressively professional and compelling pre-recorded video presentation that celebrated Crestron’s history of innovation and set the tone for the week of education and conversation to come.
That an exposition company lost money in 2020 is not surprising. That an exposition company (Emerald) that has cancellation insurance to cover lost revenues on every show they own that was cancelled during the year – and still lost $633.6 million in fiscal 2020 – is surprising.
