Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
The organisers of #ISE2020 have issued an update on exhibitor participation and visitor attendance in the light of #Coronavirus.
The statement stated that for the past 16 years the show’s co-owners AVIXA and CEDIA have been committed to delivering an event that benefits the global audiovisual industry. ISE has always perceived itself as the steward of this event – a place and time for the industry to come together and grow together.
They stated that “We reaffirm and continue that commitment for our last time in Amsterdam”.
Our determination to proceed with the event has been made with consideration to current guidelines provided by public health authorities including that of the World Health Organization (WHO). We understand and support that our exhibiting partners will make decisions based on the best course of action for their employees and customers and that this situation requires all of us to make informed decisions with the most up to date information possible. With that in mind, we will continue to share information as it is available.
In terms of exhibitor participation they said “Of our 250 top exhibitors plus many others, we have continued to receive amazing support and assurances of their participation. And although LG has informed us that they do not intend to take up their stand at this year’s ISE, we look forward to the many other major exhibitors taking shape with their newest technologies, offerings and announcements”.
The organisers admitted that “we have seen some cancellations from our Chinese exhibitors. As of today, this amounts to less than 20% of those booths, and a few additional updates can be expected”.
Finally the organisers stated that “visitor registration is ahead of the same point in time in 2019. While it isn’t fair to suggest that they will all translate into actual attendees, registration numbers have always been an accurate forecast for us as we’ve planned the show’s logistics” – which of course is ABSOLUTE BOLLOCKS! The fact that a show can claim visitor numbers by registrations and not by the actual number of badges printed is absolutely beyond me. Of course attendance is going to be down.
All-in-all it is a bit of a non-announcement.
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