šHow Trade Shows & Conventions Will Return
Entering the IRL and online event mix: The Neal Ungerleider Newsletter #67
Putting it extremely mildly, and minimizing a massive wave of job loss and business shutdowns, 2020 was awful for the live event world.
Even before COVID-19ās rolling effects transformed most of our daily lives, 2020 started with Mobile World Congress canceling and SXSW canceling. By April, with some small and modest exceptions, the trade show industry largely canceled IRL events going into the first quarter of 2021.
Which, for all of us working in trade shows and conventions, is worth a loud, collective, exasperated FUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKā.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore on VisualHunt.com / CC BY-SAMuch like other industries based around large groups of people not socially distancingāweddings, live music and hospitality all coming to mindātrade shows and conventions went through painful transformations in 2020.
These transformations were necessary: Noone wants to die or get their loved ones sick for the sake of a promo t-shirt or catching up with their work contracts from across the country. But as larger percentages of the global population are immunized, COVID positivity rates drop, and improved therapies and access to care are established, live events will slowly return.
But weāre a far way off from seeing crowded CES-type shows anytime soon. Instead, the return to live events will be slow, experimental and not as IRL as weād expect.
Trade shows and conventions exist on a spectrum where planning for the SXSWs, MWCs and San Diego Comicons of the world takes place years in advance, while much smaller eventsāsay roadshows for users of a software or a productācan be organized in weeks. A wide range of events exist in the in-between of taking months to plan.
My expectation is that events on the easier-to-plan and with fewer attendees side of things will be the first to resume activity.
Resuming live events will be different geographically; live music and DJ nights have returned in China (at least somewhat) and Eventbriteās New Zealand listings are full of IRL events. Even in North America and Europe, itās most likely that weāll see a staggered return to events where areas with lower COVID rates will have a head start of months or weeks.
The big challenge, of course, is safety. Attendees need to be safe, and organizers need to take steps to protect attendees. This is going to require a careful balancing act that will be awkward at first. Think things like mandatory masking, showing proof of vaccination or antibodies, quick COVID tests before entrance, socially distanced seating, elbow bumps instead of handshakes, box lunch-style meals, urinals/stalls closed for social distancing and things of that nature.
In many cases, attendeesāand their employersāwill also have hesitancy attending live events for the first time. Many employers will find it difficult to justify paying for attendeesā travel to events after a lean 2020, meaning that the attendee pool for many events will primarily be local and regional. This means smaller attendee lists with larger, business-starved venues vying for their business while the McCormick Places and Javits Centers of the world lie largely vacantā . Andā¦
Way more online components. Way, way more online components. COVID-19 detonated a nuclear bomb in the events world that thereās no coming back from. Event organizers will balk at paying travel and accomodation fees for many speakers in favor of having them appear remotely, online access to events will become a revenue stream of its own, and attendees may begin to expect some of the perks of online events (such as recordings of presentations for future reference and detailed online PDFs/presentations) as part of the standard live event package.
While this sounds awfulābasically, 2021ās trade shows as a event-lite mix of sitting six feet apart in a hotel conference room combined with YouTube videos and a chat room backchannelāit will only be a temporary state of things. 2021ās hiccupy live events will be a way station on our way back to crowded conventions with long coffee lines, swag bags and big launch announcementsā¦ and thatās something to celebrate.
āItās okay to curse about 2020, even in a business context. Remember, readers: Itās always okay to curse about 2020.
ā CES tops the list of the worldās largest trade shows, trailed by ICUEEāthe International Construction & Utility Equipment Expo.
ā Management of large convention centers and the hotels, restaurants and vendors that serve them are aware that business will be very slow in 2021 and 2022. This will almost certainly have trickle-down effects in terms of taxes and bankruptcies, but thatās another discussion for another time.
FURTHER READING:
Ticketmaster Preparing For Return Of Live Events: Rob Lenihan/The Street
Six Scenarios Neceesary To Safely Returning To Live Events: Miguel Neves/Event Manager
Outlook Unclear For The Return Of Live Events To Silicon Valley: Sal Pizarro/Mercury News
Are Concerts, Festivals, And Live Events Ever Coming Back? Hereās What Six Experts Say: Christopher Zara/Fast Company
Trade Shows Limp Back To Life After Shutdowns: William Boston and Eric Sylvers/Wall Street Journal
Things Iāve Enjoyed Lately:
All the Steak-umm media literacy Twitter threads in one place.
Bloomberg Businessweekās 2020 jealousy list.
2020ās most read Wikipedia pages.
And with that, weāre taking a little holiday break. Happy new year and see you in January!
Love and coffee,
Neal
About This Newsletter: Neal Ungerleider is a strategic communications consultant who works with individuals, agencies and brands. He writes this weekly newsletter about the media communications industrial complex and hopes that you found it of use. Check out his bio, his portfolio, and current projects.
Connect on Twitter or LinkedIn and learn more about at nealungerleider.com. To reach Neal, reply to this email or drop a line in the comments.