Groups Returning to In-Person Gatherings Despite Lingering Virus Threat
After overwhelmingly going virtual in 2020, major groups are committing increasingly to holding in-person conferences this year, our survey found, despite the lingering pandemic threat and as vaccination deployments must race to keep up with evolving COVID-19 variants. Public health experts said in interviews that large in-person gatherings might prove safe by summer, but much will hinge on vaccine rollouts and the virus trajectory.
A majority of 2021 events will be held in person, at least under current plans that remain subject to change, but there are exceptions. Display Week 2021 will be an all-online event May 17-21. The Society for Information Display nixed its 2021 in-person show plans early on at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center after twice being forced last year to postpone, then later cancel Display Week 2020 as a physical show. ATSC's annual NextGenTV broadcast conference is to return as a physical event Aug. 25-26 in D.C. after going all-virtual in 2020. A spokesperson said Wednesday that ATSC will continue monitoring conditions on the ground in D.C. in determining whether plans to hold the physical conference stay that way. After going virtual last year, CEATEC Japan 2021 returns as a physical show to the Makuhari Messe convention center outside Tokyo Oct. 3-6 but also will have a digital component.
Time constraints have been an issue for specialty AV dealers, whose businesses fell off last March and April when the pandemic first hit, but then were inundated with projects from customers who wanted to upgrade home entertainment systems, networks and offices for COVID-19 lockdowns. ProSource bowed out of the annual combined event it customarily holds with BrandSource Summit -- being held virtually this week -- due to those time constraints. Its March 2020 Summit was one of the last in-person industry events before the pandemic shut down travel and in-person conferences. ProSource hopes to hold a physical event later this year, with dates to be determined, a spokesperson told us Wednesday.
The Home Technology Specialists of America buying group plans a spring conference virtually April 6, after a virtual event last fall. Based on feedback from dealers, it’s going to be a one-day event focused on the most important issues and challenges facing members. The agenda will be flexible to accommodate everyone’s busy schedules, said the group.
GSMA plans to have Mobile World Congress June 28-July 1 in Barcelona, after scuttling the in-person MWC last year at the start of the pandemic. As happened last year, some major industry players say they won’t go because of COVID-19 concerns. The decision not to attend, “whilst regrettable, reflects our precautionary approach to managing the pandemic from a people and travel perspective whilst vaccination programs are rolled out globally,” Ericsson said in a statement.
GSMA precautions include social distancing. Attendees must present a negative COVID-19 test, and rapid tests will be repeated every 72 hours there. Temperature checks will be done at all access points, GSMA said. The venue is providing badgeless entry and a new “fresh-air injection and external ventilation system to improve airflow.” A GSMA spokesperson referred us to the safety guidelines. CTIA, working with GSMA, plans an Americas version of MWC in October in Los Angeles, a spokesperson said. The group also plans a 5G summit in September in D.C.
NAB expects 70% to 80% of the usual 100,000 attendees at its 2021 event in October, said Chris Brown, executive vice president-conventions and business operations. It's now combined with the usually separate Radio Show and the Sales and Management Television Exchange, and the TV network affiliate groups will have their annual conclaves there. During the 2008 recession, show attendance dropped by around 20%, Brown said.
The 2021 NAB Show will take up about two-thirds of the space it usually occupies in the Las Vegas Convention Center, and other, unrelated organizations (having to do with “jets and hot rods,” Brown said) will have events in the unused space, he said. CES 2022 in early January is expected to take up all of the LVCC, albeit with wider aisles and exhibits spaced father apart than at pre-pandemic shows. CTA is already committed to running a physical show side by side with a virtual component, and says everything is on the table per pre-show planning, including the possibility of attendance caps.
Pandemic procedures for NAB Show 2021 are being worked out, and Brown expected mask requirements, cleaning protocols and on-site medical facilities. The conference could include social distancing systems such as one-way aisles, and the trade group is considering requiring proof of vaccination, though Brown said things are fluid. Attendee safety is “the No. 1 priority,” he said.
Brown said the NAB Show’s exhibitors and venues understand the pandemic is a constantly shifting crisis, and the contracts included “a more flexible sets of terms” to accommodate the possibility of disruption from unexpected developments with COVID-19. Officials who were canvassed all said they didn’t expect COVID-19 concerns to be a factor in whether they attended, if the vaccine availability and virus continue as is widely projected. Lawyer Jack Goodman said station budgets hit by the pandemic could be a bigger factor in declining attendance than coronavirus concerns. “I am 100% confident that NAB will have it together” as far as health concerns, said Alpha Media CEO Bob Proffitt. “I’m very comfortable with going.”
Emily Barr, CEO of Graham Media and a member of NAB’s executive committee, said she is "looking forward to reconnecting with friends, colleagues and vendors in Las Vegas.” National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston said he expects to attend, and his organization is holding its own in-person event in October. Radio broadcaster and former NAB Radio Board member Ed Henson expects widespread vaccinations by October and trusts other broadcasters to do what’s needed to keep show attendees safe. “Being in person is how relationships are built," Henson said. “Zoom is a tool, but it’s not the same.”
Still, experts agreed it's not fully safe to plow ahead now with physical events. Resumption of in-person shows is in sight, just not quite yet, they said. Spring meetings are “likely a bit too soon," said Jill Roberts, an epidemiologist with the University of South Florida College of Public Health. "A significant portion of the population is not yet vaccinated, which would likely include much of the staff at conference venues.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that 25.7% of the U.S. population had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and that 14% had been fully vaccinated.
Until the vaccine rolls out to more people, "it will remain difficult to plan any sort of large event,” said Jan Jones, instructor of hospitality and tourism at the University of New Haven. The venue is important, she said. “There are ways to set up a conference in a way that keeps people safe, but it will require an incredible amount of planning." She sees restrictions "beginning to ease up" and feels "hopeful" that late summer "will begin the reemergence of some of the larger meetings,” she said.
Convention and meetings experts said hybrid events with some programming done in person and some virtually could be the new norm, even post-pandemic. The number of events overall is rebounding and should get back to near normal sometime next year, said George Fenich, a professor at East Carolina University's School of Hospitality Leadership. He said virtual meetings and events had more attendance than when they were face to face, though organizations are grappling with the registration and conference fees for virtual events and how much lower they should be than for physical attendance.
Fenich said hybrid events obviously mean a smaller economic stimulus for the host city, with fewer hotel stays, restaurant meals and the like. He said trade shows like CES will fare better with face-to-face attendance than largely programmatic events. "You can't really do a virtual trade show," he said. "You can't kick the tires on a car you are viewing on a computer monitor."
Some events are experimenting will full pricing for virtual attendees, said Joanne Dennison, adjunct faculty at Boston University School of Hospitality Administration. She said that can be justified if the gathering works to make the web-based content engaging: "You can't throw up everyone on a Zoom screen and say, 'Yep, good meeting.'"
The Professional Convention Management Association is watching protocols globally and what airlines are doing. "We are hopeful the vaccine rollout continues to improve and provide our audience with access to vaccines," it emailed. For PCMA events, it said it's considering requiring proof of a negative COVID-19 test. It said it offered antigen rapid testing during its annual Convening Leaders event in January in Singapore.
Event planners should keep everything as touchless as possible, said Georges Benjamin, American Public Health Association executive director. He suggested allowing registration before arrival, cleaning on-site registration kiosks between individuals and distributing badges without staff interactions. “At the end of the day, to the extent that you can leverage all of those various barriers, I think those are ways to reduce your risk” of transmitting the virus, he said.
CEO Elliott Ferguson of Destination D.C., the Washington Convention Center and visitors organization, said demand is growing to put on events: The ability to do so hinges on the city loosening pandemic restrictions. “We are really missing out on some opportunities for short-term bookings" of events of a couple of hundred attendees, he said.
"I'm reluctant to recommend that there be large gatherings at this point," said behavioral scientist John Allegrante, a professor at Columbia University. Taking public transportation and gathering indoors in large numbers risks further transmission because masks aren't always worn correctly, and ventilation isn't always the best, he said: “I just don't think it's worth taking the risk right now.” Those who do attend large gatherings should take precautions like wearing masks, washing hands and social distancing as much as possible, Allegrante said. "I would recommend that people not be complacent," even after getting vaccinated, he said.