AVIXA Says InfoComm Staying In June 2021, Despite ISE Date Shift To Same Month

September 16, 2020 by Dave Haynes

AVIXA has tamped down speculation that the shift of Integrated Systems Europe to June 2021, from February, means its sister show InfoComm will inevitably shift from June to later in the year.

Update: ISE will be June 1-4, 2021, while InfoComm is mid-June

Joe’ Lloyd, the trade association’s senior director of communications, said InfoComm will remain in mid-June in Orlando. That reinforces statements Tuesday from ISE show director Mike Blackman, who said the two shows could mutually co-exist in the same calendar month.

Lloyd told me a look at the attendee profiles for both pro AV shows suggests the overseas traffic is relatively low – with less than 5% of ISE’s attendees coming from the U.S., pre-COVID. The crossover number is also low for attendees from outside the Americas turning up at InfoComm.

With travel restrictions and health safety worries persisting into 2021, it’s likely the overseas visitor numbers would be markedly lower than that.

So AVIXA, which co-owns both trade shows, didn’t see the events competing for the same visitors.

Lloyd also suggest many of the larger exhibitors are regionalized and have people and assets they deploy in their regions. So the booth an AV hardware firm uses, and the people who organize it and staff it, are different on either side of the Atlantic.

That would be tougher for smaller companies who might not have big, expensive stands but do want to be at both events, as it may also be for Asian firms – notably LED manufacturers – who only have overseas sales offices (or people) and are bringing gear and staff from Shenzhen, Shanghai or wherever.  So it is likely a percentage of exhibitors will have to decide to do one or the other, but not both. And some will just opt out, period, for 2021.

I would not want to be one of the poor souls charged with making stands happen at both events next June, as there is JUST a bit of work involved.

The point of view is that next June is a reasonable timeframe to think of COVID-19 being under control – whether that’s by a vaccine, other therapies or measures and mandates that actually stick, and are not periodic and fought against.

The hard dates for ISE are not set for June. InfoComm’s exhibit hall days are locked in for June 16-18, 2021.

Blackman has stressed the ISE move to June is a one-time thing, and assuming normalcy returns, ISE 2022 will be in February in Barcelona.

The one industry trade show that doggedly remains in the calendar is Digital Signage Expo, which continues to do marketing around a Nov. 11-13, 2020 time window in Las Vegas.  This is from Tuesday …

The spread rate is dropping that city, but it is in no way COVID-free. On Tuesday, Nevada logged 226 new cases of COVID-19 and 26 additional deaths from the disease over the preceding day.

We shall see, I guess. But you won’t see me there. About 16 hours in airplanes to get there and back, followed by two weeks of isolation back here at the live bait shop/World HQ, lacks a certain appeal. As does dying.

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