CEDIA Expo Updates Status of Show Amid COVID-19 Delta Variant Surge
Event-producer management detail latest safety measures for CEDIA Expo; note 6,000 registrants and 250 brands on tap for Indianapolis event.
Brian Pagel and Jason McGraw of SSI parent company Emerald detail latest safety measures for CEDIA Expo.
The first in-person CEDIA Expo in more than two years is scheduled to be staged in less than a month and with health and safety concerns top of mind due to the COVID-19 Delta variant, show producer Emerald, SSI’s parent company, has provided an update.
Among them, yes, the CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis (Sept. 1-3, with the keynote and more slated Aug. 31) is still going on as planned, Emerald Executive VP Brian Pagel reiterates in a new video from CEDIA Expo addressing the many questions they’ve received about the show’s status.
Pagel reiterated points made in a statement to CE Pro, in which he noted that CEDIA Expo is the latest in a group of tradeshows that Emerald has successfully produced in 2021.
“Our return to face-to-face events is happening on a national level,” Pagel says. “Not only have we produced 11 events this year, we have another nine events taking place this month all before CEDIA Expo.”
The custom industry’s clamoring to return to live events has been evident leading up to the Indianapolis event, as the show floor preps for 250 brands and upwards of 10,000 attendees to the Indiana Convention Center.
“As part of our show preparation, we’ve had weekly meetings with Visit Indy, the Convention Center and our service partners to review every aspect of our outside planning,” Pagel explains, adding that Emerald has also been communicating with other organizations that have recently held events in Indianapolis.
Jason McGraw, Emerald’s group vice president for CEDIA Expo, underscored and echo what Pagel said, emphasizing the health measures in place that attendees can continue to find the most updated guidelines on CEDIA Expo’s website. Also on CEDIAExpo.com, attendees can register for the 2021 Expo.
CEDIA Expo Letter Cites CDC & Local Health Guidance
Here is the full statement included in an email to readers of SSI sister publication CE Pro:
We have received recent inquiries about the status of CEDIA Expo 2021 and our health and safety policies in light of the rise in Delta variant COVID cases nationally, along with questions on some exhibitors who have made their own business decisions to not exhibit at this year’s event.
We are proceeding with the in-person show and planning for a successful event this September. CEDIA Expo 2021 will host over 250 brands on the show floor, more than 100,000 NSF of exhibits, hundreds of education sessions and it will be the largest in-person residential technology show held in North America this year. We currently have 6,000 registrations from highly qualified integrators, dealers, installers and channel pros, and we’re receiving hundreds of new registrations every day; we fully expect to host 10,000 professionals at CEDIA Expo 2021.
We are following the guidance of the CDC and local health officials in Indianapolis in determining our mask wearing and health and safety policies for the show. We do encourage attendees to wear masks and we will have enhanced cleaning measures in place at the show. View the current health & safety plan.
If circumstances change in Indianapolis and the local authorities mandate mask wearing for all, we will follow suit and update our show policies accordingly.
The Indiana Convention Center is fully open and currently operating events. In fact, the FDIC firefighters’ show with over 300,000 NSF of exhibits, 650 exhibitors and 23,000 registrants was held successfully in Indianapolis last week. We have met with their show management to gain further information from their experience.
Emerald is also successfully underway with producing two of our largest events, NYNow in New York City and Outdoor Retailer in Denver. Both have exceeded expectations with attendance and exhibitors successfully conducting business. So far this year, Emerald’s professional event management team have successfully and safely staged 11 events across the country and we have 9 more events to be held prior to CEDIA Expo. Our show health and safety policies are consistent with those of leading event organizers, including those of the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) where Emerald’s President and CEO, Hervé Sedky is the chair.
Additionally, we are participating in weekly calls with the Indiana Convention Center, Visit Indy and other organizers to get the latest information relative to health and safety for events being held in Indianapolis. We take the issue of our attendees’ health and safety very seriously and do not see any reason, as it stands today, that we cannot host CEDIA Expo safely and productively. We plan to operate CEDIA Expo 2021 as scheduled.
Thank you for your continued support! We are excited to welcome everyone back to the show, live and in-person in Indianapolis – we’ll see you there. It’s going to be a great show!
This article first appeared on SSI sister website CEPro.com.
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