Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
The Delta Variant is giving exhibitors the excuse NOT to spend money on exhibiting and many other companies a reason not to attend #Infocomm21 this October in Orlando, FL. and we are sure to see many more exhibitors cancel their booths over the next few weeks.
The first company to go public with a withdrawal was PTZOptics as reported here by Inavate magazine, closely followed by official announcements from SONY, Canon and Audio Technica.
In a statement released to the press PTZOptics said “PTZOptics and HuddlecamHD will not exhibit in person at InfoComm 2021 in Orlando. We wanted to share this decision now so that all our friends in the industry can factor it into their plans. This was not an easy decision … As the COVID pandemic re-escalates, however, we have had to reevaluate the risks associated with a large, indoor gathering. Among our partners, customers, and friends in the industry, many are currently unable to travel as a matter of company policy or are uncomfortable due to health risks. We also could not in good conscience require a large group of staff to travel to a high-risk zone. As much as we were looking forward to the show, health and safety come first”.
We believe that many will be pulling out due to health and safety issues but many more will quite simply not want to spend money at this time in light of the industry’s supply chain issues. The vendors we have spoken to are mightily relieved to have an excuse of “protecting their people’s welfare” when all they really want is the dollar savings by not ‘having’ to be present.
Those who do pull out may have lost their payments to the show or (possibly) had them applied to future shows, but the savings in booth set-up, rentals, hotels, transportation, entertainment, etc. are enormous.
There are currently less than 417 exhibitors registered for #Infocomm21 – which is HALF the number that exhibited in 2019 (there was no show in 2020)
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