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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE:EEX), formerly Emerald Expositions, reported their fiscal 2020 third quarter results this week and despite their best efforts to shift their business to online virtual conferences, the company reported revenues of just $8.5 million and generated a net loss of $22.3 million. This loss was even deeper than their loss of $19.7 million in the same quarter in 2019 which was well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S.
