LAS VEGAS — The Covid-19 wrecking ball decisively smashed all the best-laid plans for public gatherings in mid-March, 2020. The resumption of these same events is less clear cut, with June marking the return of some in-person gatherings while other confabs remained virtual and online-only.
After postponing their in-person InfoComm show from June 2020 in Las Vegas to June 2021 in Orlando, for example, AVIXA pushed plans for the gathering a few months further, and now it’s set to run at Orlando’s Orange County Event Center with conferences starting Oct. 23 and exhibits open from Oct. 27-29.
This year’s Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) show, meanwhile, did take place, with AVIXA and CEDIA organizing in-person gatherings in both Barcelona and London held in June 2021 complemented by online meetings and virtual events. And while Winter NAMM 2021 morphed into the online-only Believe in Music event in January, 2021, Summer NAMM was held in-person at Nashville’s Music City Center July 15-16.
While uncertainty about Covid persists, as more in-person events return, they seem likely to be chock full of product innovation as manufacturers who had been holding off on major product launches during 2020 and early 2021 unleash new gear launches for late 2021 and 2022.
In-person events planned for Las Vegas this fall include the 2021 NAB Show (Oct. 9-13), the AES Show (Oct. 11-13) and, from Nov. 19-21, the LDI Show. Winter NAMM (and the TEC and PLSN/FOH Parnelli Awards) will then be returning to Anaheim, CA in a big way Jan. 20-23, 2022.
Looking ahead beyond NAMM 2022 to other major industry events across the pond, ISE 2022 will be staged in Barcelona from Feb. 1-4 and Prolight + Sound is set to return to Frankfurt April 26-29, followed by MusikMesse April 29-May 1, 2022.
