Strategy in TECH...
Heading to CES 2022? Be sure to check the online version of the show schedule regularly, as Advertising Age (Ad Age) is reporting that CES has apparently removed “a slate of programs,” including several previously scheduled sessions and panels planned for Tuesday. The move is said to be a result of so many companies and executives canceling or otherwise pulling out of the show.
Strata-gee readers reached out to me on late Friday as word circulated that the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) was taking the unusual step of cutting the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) short by one day “…as an additional safety measure.” That is essentially all that an announcement from the association says about this decision, which on the face of it seems to call into question the safety of attending the event at all.
Remember back in 2020 when as the stressful year unfolded, we would wistfully daydream about the day when this coronavirus pandemic would come to an end and we’d get “back to normal?” We thought that would happen, like, in 2021. Then 2021 came along and the deadly Delta variant of COVID-19 emerged. “Normal” had eluded us once again.
Enter Omicron which looks to complicate 2022. I think it’s time to forget about getting back to what used to be normal and make sure you and your company are ready for a new “normal”…
Speaking at a press conference in Malaysia today, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said that the global chip shortage will last until 2023. Gelsinger pointed to the fact that demand keeps expanding, even as the industry struggles to bring more production online to fill the demand.
Last week, Crestron Electronics, a leading provider of control and automation solutions, wrapped up their two-day regional show, the Crestron Next Road Trip, at the Westin Copley Place Hotel in Boston. The well-attended two-day event saw hundreds of integrators descend on Boston to participate in an event that included whole sections of their displays from the CEDIA Expo and InfoComm trade show booths and offered full-day educational courses for both their residential and commercial dealers.
In a survey by the National Association of Business Economists, a strong majority of all businesses – fully 58% – reported that they raised the wages they paid to employees in the third quarter, as reported by AXIOS. Nearly the same number say they will raise wages yet again in the coming months. While the news has some positive elements, especially for workers (like the smiling employees above), it definitely has some economists worried.
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.
