Buying Groups Hoping for a Business-as-Usual Return to CEDIA Expo

Custom-channel dealers are itching to get back to in-person conferences but are in holding patterns about plans for the CEDIA Expo, scheduled for Sept. 1-3 at Indianapolis' Indiana Convention Center, buying group executives told us. Executives reported some pushback from members over the show's mandatory mask policy.

The Home Technology Specialists of America is in touch with show owner Emerald “quite a bit,” Executive Director Jon Robbins told us, as the group tries to get “a better understanding of logistics.” Members are looking to HTSA for direction on how to proceed, he said. The buying group intends to have meetings and classes in Indianapolis, but Emerald isn’t opening hotel bookings or assigning meeting rooms until June, he noted. The expo website showed attendance fees Thursday but said registration opens June 9.

HTSA traditionally has a cocktail party the night before the show floor opens. It hasn’t picked a location, but "we’re returning to -- if all goes right -- pre-pandemic days," Robbins said. Whether masks will be required, he said, is “to be determined.” HTSA has been “very, very cognizant of pandemic recommendations.” Executives are still not on the road “because our people are not fully vaccinated,” he said. HTSA will look at the mask issue when it has more to go on. For now, it “remains to be seen,” said Robbins, calling mask requirements a “fluid situation." HTSA will follow whatever Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines are in place "at that point,” he said.

It’s still “up in the air” whether ProSource will have its customary pre-show cocktail party, CEO Dave Workman told us. The decision will be based on “what restrictions are in place, or not,” he said. To hold the event, “we’re going to have to be able to do so without masks,” Workman said, calling that the “go, no-go for us.” If there’s a mask restriction, “it doesn’t make any sense to try and host a cocktail reception.” ProSource had over 1,000 people at its party at the last in-person show, he said.

Based on early feedback in ProSource surveys about CEDIA attendance, the number of dealers saying it’s too early to travel or gather is “very, very few” -- about 5% of members, said Workman. Additional feedback from some dealers is, “If they make me wear a mask, I’m not coming,” Workman said. He was referencing Emerald’s health and safety plan for the event (see 2104120022), which currently stipulates masks will be required for “all persons entering the building, without exception.” It’s still early, “and things may change,” Workman said, but based on feedback so far, he expects a 20% decline in expo attendance, vs. the typical 80% membership participation.

Azione Unlimited President Richard Glikes downplayed the mask issue: “So what? I wear a mask into a restaurant now,” he said. “I think everybody’s used to wearing a mask,” he added. “There might be some [Donald] Trump people who object to it.” He said rules might change by September, “a long time from now.”

Three of five employees in Azione’s administrative staff plan to go to CEDIA Expo, said Glikes, noting that hotels and flights are booked, along with the group’s cocktail party venue. Situations that could change his plans include “if Indiana went into lockdown” or if there was a “mutation in the virus and I didn’t feel like the shot I had gotten originally covered it -- I might not want to be exposed,” he said.

Glikes is eager to get back to in-person events, saying he misses seeing vendors and dealers. Azione is holding another virtual conference next week, “and it’s not the same,” he said. “I’ve had enough of this; I want to be with my people." On a Zoom call, body language and nuances are missing, Glikes said: “You’re looking at somebody in a little box on a 24-inch monitor, and there are 40 of them.”

At the onslaught of the pandemic last April and May, Azione had virtual conferences as often as three times a week. Revenue fell off, and Glikes would get 75-80 dealer attendees on a call. Now, it puts on one or two webinars a month, “and we’re lucky to get 50.” Dealers are busy, “and they’re tired of it.” It’s hard to get their attention because “they’re numb to emails … and webinars," he said.

Robbins said HTSA is “learning on the fly, not that we want to,” about putting on a virtual conference, noting that the group had over 550 attendees at its recent spring event, which offered dealers the choice of multiple sessions to accommodate different time zones. Robbins is excited by the prospect of an in-person CEDIA event: “If people do follow the recommendations and go out and get vaccinated -- I don’t want to sound political -- we think that there’s a very good shot that people can gather.”

Franklin Karp, chief operating officer of integration firm Audio Video Systems in Plainview, New York, told us he plans to go to CEDIA Expo, "but crowds and unvaccinated folk do concern me a little." COVID-19 protocols aren't an issue for the HTSA member: "I assume I'll be wearing a mask for the foreseeable future."