Emerald Concedes Virtual CEDIA Expo Can't Capture 'Spontaneous Engagements'

CEDIA Expo owner Emerald X is approaching the Sept. 15-17 virtual event “as we would have with a physical event,” Brian Pagel, executive vice president, told Consumer Electronics Daily. The event will emphasize “connections,” he said. COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the Sept. 8-12 CEDIA Expo this year in Denver. It's scheduled to return as a physical show next year in Indianapolis.

Emerald is balancing its bread-and-butter business -- producing physical trade shows across various industries -- with trying to provide a useful alternative at a time when companies have largely shut down travel and social distancing is a new normal.

Attendees are still looking for product innovation, leads, networking opportunities and education, Pagel said. CEDIA is a platform that creates those connections: The three-day online event combines education classes put on by the CEDIA organization with the virtual expo. Emerald is offering events “we would have offered on the floor,” he said, citing panels, keynotes and tech sessions.

On how Emerald hopes to recreate the booth experience virtually, Ashley Sprengnether, associate show director-CEDIA Expo, told us Emerald is giving exhibitors a way to showcase new products, meet one on one with new and existing dealers via Zoom Rooms and create videos to demonstrate products. Experiences can be part of it, too: “They can have a happy hour if they wanted to.”

Emerald will guide exhibitors on best practices in the virtual show environment, said Pagel. “We all know that when videos go far too long you tend to lose your audience.” Some brands are good marketers and others are “developing organizations,” he said. “We take that responsibility very much to heart.”

A virtual event can’t replicate a physical show’s “spontaneous engagements,” Pagel said. “So much of what makes the trade show event special is not what happens from 8 to 5.” Meeting an industry peer on the show floor or a buddy on a plane heading to the same event is the kind of spontaneous meet-up that a virtual event can't replicate, he said. The face-to-face connection makes Emerald “bullish” on a post-COVID future.

To enable some spontaneity, Emerald is looking at having networking breaks and Q&A sessions, Sprengnether said. CEDIA is working on “ask the expert” sessions in a chat room discussion format. Another idea is attendee “matchmaking” to enable interactions outside of attendee and exhibitor meetings, she said.

Pagel acknowledged the technical challenges of producing an online trade show: “Technology is great until it’s not." A live Zoom session can be unpredictable. "If someone moves in their home office, their signal may change completely -- you may get glitches.” To protect the “integrity” of the event, CEDIA Expo will prerecord many of the events followed by a live Q&A: “You can control it a little more.”

Livestreams will also be part of Expo, but “you have to be very calculated and careful how you do that, so you don’t run into those potential pitfalls: We’re learning as we go,” Pagel said. “There will be mistakes. I would be absolutely blown away if this went off without a hitch." Emerald hopes to minimize risk through a "commonsense and thoughtful approach.” It's leveraging what it's learning from other virtual events it's putting on, he said.

On how Emerald will coach exhibitors to keep virtual events fresh vs. a series of webinars in a “Zoomed-out” world, Pagel said Convey has a “long history of working with live events,” and the company can teach best practices to break up the virtual trade show day. Convey’s platform allows for more video, he said, and Emerald will coach speakers on how to deliver a richer experience.

Exhibitors can use Zoom, GoToMeeting or another conferencing platform, said Sprengnether. A concierge level of the Convey platform is available for companies that struggle with the technical side, said Pagel. The group will "help onboard exhibitors if they’re not able to use the self-help tools,” he said. “When you’re talking 450-plus exhibiting brands … that helps us manage the exhibitor experience.”

Manufacturers we spoke to about the virtual show had mixed views. Audio brands Bowers & Wilkins and Origin Acoustics are passing on the virtual event because it doesn’t lend itself to high-quality audio demonstrations, executives told us.

“It’s challenging to demo in the virtual world,” said James Krakowski, B&W executive vice president-Americas. Though Emerald walked the company through its demo room concept, B&W’s main focus this year is on new products, which don’t lend themselves to a virtual demo. The company hopes to hold a fall open house for dealers comfortable with traveling to its North Reading, Massachusetts, facility for a three-day “brand immersion” event instead.

B&W had committed to the Denver CEDIA Expo and will roll over its payment to next year’s Expo in Indianapolis, Krakowski said. Though Emerald is keeping exhibitor fees the same from 2019 to 2021 physical shows, B&W upped its investment: “We’re taking a bigger booth,” he said, “because there are opportunities for us to expand our visibility.”

Origin Acoustics polled its dealers, “and they don’t seem interested” in the virtual event, said Director-Marketing Aaron Cattoir. “We’re between a rock and a hard place,” he said. Some dealers use the physical CEDIA Expo as a reward for their technicians, and many see it as a social gathering, Cattoir said.

Origin’s yearly incentive to attend CEDIA Expo is to sign new dealers, Cattoir said. In a virtual environment, “there’s not really any way to get in front of them in a meaningful way.” If the company sold amplifiers or electronics, it might make sense, but “you can’t hear a speaker over the internet.”

Control companies Crestron and Savant Systems are enthusiastically supporting the virtual event, executives said. Crestron, with a “high-level sponsorship,” plans to participate on at least one tech talk panel, demonstrate and share its latest products and technologies, and showcase solutions with partner companies, said Executive Director-Product Marketing Jeff Singer.

Singer wouldn’t name the companies or detail plans for showcases still in the works, but he noted relationships in the corporate world with Microsoft and Logitech for conferencing solutions, and it recently announced (see 2005280022) a solution targeted to the residential market based on stay-at-home trends. Plans are developing.

Though a virtual CEDIA Expo has social and networking limitations, it also opens up opportunities, said Singer. “We don’t have the linear constraint of logistics,” he said. “We can build virtual spaces and virtual experiences that we couldn’t do on a trade show wall.” Singer is jazzed about building “3D environments,” saying the company has always wanted to build a house with rooms in it for CEDIA shows but has been limited by traffic flow considerations. The Crestron booth is often “packed,” he said, making it difficult to move people through. He also cited building codes and fire and safety considerations.

In the virtual booth, “We can create room scenes and experiences in virtual spaces a lot easier because we don’t have to worry about any of that,” Singer said. Crestron will have prerecorded and live content for the virtual show, he said. Tools the company creates for CEDIA could be available to dealers throughout the year, beyond the 90-day window Emerald is giving to exhibitors, he said.

Crestron hopes it can expand its dealer base through the virtual show, reaching dealers interested in its programming-free Crestron Home control system. Sales reps’ schedules get booked fast at a trade show, but in a virtual space more prospective dealers can be exposed to product demos and tours, he said. “If you don’t have a meeting, sometimes it’s difficult to break through. There’s the potential to engage with more new dealers this way.”

Savant believes participation in industry events, and supporting trade associations, are key to maintaining the industry’s strength during the challenging environment, emailed Angie Larson, senior vice president-customer operations.

The company committed to sponsoring a Platinum virtual booth, participating in Tech Talk and Tech Bites series, and offering “significant education opportunities” for integrators, Larson said. “While virtual events are a new territory for everyone, we are determined to participate and value the insight we get from the greater industry community.” The company also committed to Expo 2021, Larson said. During the pandemic, Savant has offered webinars and one-on-one training for integrators.

Mitchell Klein, executive director-Z-Wave Alliance, will participate in the virtual CEDIA Expo because “I have a CEDIA sticker on the back of every shirt.” It hasn’t been determined whether the Z-Wave Alliance will have a booth. “Do we think anyone will ask, ‘Where’s Z-Wave?’” he said. That wouldn’t happen in a virtual setting; on a trade show floor, attendees visit the booth to see Z-Wave partner companies. The alliance is studying booth options for the virtual Expo; Klein thinks fees are “priced appropriately.”

“Where I get worried,” Klein said, "is that everyone has got to be totally Zoomed out. How long can anyone sit in front of a computer? The jury’s out on that.” He hasn’t been immersed in the Convey platform, but “I can only cross my fingers and hope and assume the experienced players continue to improve as the different platforms get better,” he said of virtual trade show producers. “The first few have been a noble attempt, but they’re not much more than going from one Zoom to another. They need to do better than what’s happened so far.”

Interactive elements are important so attendees “are not just sitting there staring at a screen,” said Klein. Pressure will be on presenters to give dynamic sessions, not “just a voice with a PowerPoint.” He’s hoping for video feeds and white boards to break up the experience for attendees; breakout sessions will be important for interaction, he said.