Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
As if we hadn’t had enough trade show news lately. Something was going on last week at Exponation, LLC, producer of Digital Signage Expo (DSE), LED Specifier Summit, Lightshow West, DigitalSignageConnection.com and West Coast Lighting Insider.
Employees were called into a meeting on the Monday and were sworn to secrecy until last Friday (we have since learned that they were told the company was filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy which you can read here).
#DSE2020 was initially scheduled for March 31 – April 3, 2020 but moved to September 15-18, 2020, however once it was moved a second time, to November 11-13, 2020, there was probably zero chance that the event would actually ever happen this calendar year.
The event of course, could be postponed until next year but sadly, the way the organisers have treated their exhibitors these last few months, we think that is highly unlikely and the organisers will know that they have blown any industry goodwill they ever had.
It could have been so different if only the organisers had announced that the show would skip a year when they first moved it. Greed, or a lack of funds, or desire to return money to exhibitors likely put paid to that idea and was probably never countenanced by Exponation’s capo honcho Angelo Varrone.
So it is, what it is, a show that never grew year on year from the 4,000 people who attended the very first one. It reached its 10th anniversary and its 15th and it had its moments in the Sun. It was a very popular event and had an incredibly loyal following but I have to say, with much sadness, that it was probably time for it to go.
September 18th, 2020 at 13:56 @622
This is fake news. Exponation is as strong as ever, and even if it does have to postpone this one event again, there is no doom and gloom on the horizon. You are a nasty person.
September 18th, 2020 at 15:51 @702
Truth is, they have to have figured out that they can’t do this in November. They can’t technically cancel, because they would then have to refund payments made by exhibitors, which would crush them financially, and they have already spent some of that money and probably owe or have paid LVCC significant sums. They may cajole some exhibitors into rolling their payments into a future show, but good luck with that. So they will likely attempt to call it a third re-schedule, which would make DSE2020 into DSE2021, and could unlock the grounds for litigation from angry exhibitors. Rock, meet hard place.
September 21st, 2020 at 14:25 @642
Actually its not fake news. Email just went out that they are iiquidating.
As a result of the impact COVID-19 has had on the live events industry, Exponation LLC (producer of Digital Signage Expo, LED Specifier Summit, LightShow West, DigitalSignageConnection.com and West Coast Lighting Insider) has filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, which is a liquidation of all assets and permanent closure of the company.
If you are a creditor of Exponation LLC, you will be notified by the bankruptcy court via U.S. Mail shortly, with instructions about filing a claim against Exponation’s limited remaining assets.
September 23rd, 2020 at 06:44 @322
Always ahead of the rest with DOOH. Nice work Adrian.