When Savant announced last week that it would not be participating in-person at CEDIA 2021, we started to get nervous. The latest information isn’t much better with news that some of the biggest names in home theater, home audio, and home integration have also announced that they will not be attending either.
Many brands will be conducting new product events online but this latest list of companies who are no longer attending due to the increase in cases caused by the Delta variant is rather significant.
Sony, Sonos, Sound United (Polk Audio, Denon, Marantz, Bowers & Wilkins), Samsung, Snap One, RTI, AudioQuest/GoldenEar, Wisdom Audio, Legrand, Fortress Seating, Salamander, and Panamax.
There are unconfirmed rumors that Harman Luxury Audio Group have pulled out but we don’t know that for sure and until we hear otherwise from the company — they are still attending.
We reached out to Samsung and they confirmed with the following statement:
“The health and safety of our employees and the public is our top priority. Due to the recent rise of infection rates, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw from exhibiting in-person at this year’s CEDIA Expo. We look forward to connecting with our industry partners directly in the coming weeks to share our latest products and programs for the channel.”
We also reached out to Sony and received the following response:
“Sony Electronics has been closely monitoring the evolving situation of the COVID-19 Delta variant. As a result of the unprecedented and unexpected circumstances, we’ve made the difficult decision that we will not be participating in person at this year’s CEDIA event. This includes our participation on the show floor as well as all Sony sponsored events planned in conjunction with the show.
As the world continues to grapple with the pandemic and businesses adopt digital alternatives and online opportunities to prevent the spread of the virus, Sony Electronics will continue to communicate with our customers and partners in ways that allow us to safely deliver exciting product news and updates to a wider audience and our broader Sony community. With this in mind, we will be broadcasting our “Sony CEDIA Live!” event from our headquarters in San Diego. We look forward to sharing information about our latest premium products. Look for an invitation this week.
We’ll continue to monitor the situation and look forward to participating at industry events in person at some point in the future.”
– Jeff Goldstein, Head of Sales – Sony CI Channel, Sony Electronics
It is our plan to still offer extensive coverage from CEDIA 2021, but it is clear that some of the biggest companies in the industry have already made the rather painful decision to stay home for another year and make all of their announcements via other channels.
With AXPONA and RMAF on the horizon, let’s pray cases begin to drop or Q4 is going to be rather quiet again when it comes to industry trade events.
Fred Richards
August 18, 2021 at 4:32 pm
Come on Emerald Exposition it’s not always about the money. The exhibitors that are showing will never, never see an ROI… Safety and ROI = cancel…
Ian White
August 18, 2021 at 4:46 pm
Fred,
With more than 20 major companies gone at this point, we’re not sure what the point is right now.
Ian White