by Amadeus Finlay
After the world-shaking trials of 2020 that saw the tradeshow, event and conference industry all but close up shop, 2021 showed numerous signs of recovery. This Year in Review takes a look at the key moments of each of the past 12 months, visiting each month in turn, and setting the stage for what promises to be a roaring 2022.
January
The big story in January was the first ever digital Consumer Electronics Show, held Jan. 11-14, following a COVID-forced announcement in July 2020 that the 2021 edition would be online only. Despite the planet’s leading show for all things tech being denied its essential hands-on experience, CES 2021 was an unprecedented success. More than 80,000 attendees and 2,000 exhibitors participated in the five-day event, making it the largest digital conference in history. Not to be outdone, CES 2022 will be a hybrid event, with organizers fusing the most successful digital elements with the existing in-person format.
In a similar vein was PCMA Convening Leaders 2021 expo, which was an experimental global hybrid event composed of physical meetings being held in Las Vegas, Palm Beach and Singapore (to name a few), plus a digital audience tuning in from across the world.
January also came with the news that IMEX 2021, slated to be held in Frankfurt May 25-27, had been canceled. In a joint official statement from the CEO and chairman of IMEX, the decision was made with mixed feelings, but promised that IMEX America would proceed as planned as an in-person event in Las Vegas in November. The same can be said for InfoComm 2021, which was moved from its original June 12-18 dates at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, to a revised slot of Oct. 23-29.
February
There was some news to love in February, as Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced that event capacities in the tradeshow state would be lifted from 35 percent capacity up to 50 percent capacity. Adding more fuel to the fire was the news that the National Hardware Show’s 75th anniversary event would be held in-person Oct. 21-23, 2021, in the Las Vegas Convention Center. February also saw the formation of an advocacy group dubbed the Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance, a coalition of industry associations that promote the common interests of tradeshows and exhibitions with legislators while driving awareness and offering professional support. Not as welcome was the announcement that the 2021 National Restaurant Association Show was being postponed until May 2022 due to the unavailability of McCormick Center in Chicago, shut as a result of COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings.
March
March saw the Center for Exhibition Industry Research release a damning state of the industry report for 2020, which saw a 78.8 percent Total Index downturn over 2019. However, the pandemic-hit industry did begin to show signs of growth in Q4 2020, a trend that continued through Q1 2021. The good news for March was the reopening of The Hawaii Convention Center and the ribbon cutting at the 30,000 ft. Eastwood Event Centre in Niles, Ohio. Further encouragement came when the Nevada Department of Business and Industry approved World of Concrete to be held June 8-10 at the LVCC.
March also saw HIMSS being ordered to pay $2.8 million in unrefunded fees for their canceled 2020 show, with the Chicago-based group originally proposing no refunds, followed by offering credits toward a future event, before being hit by the court order.
April
April was a relatively quiet month. CEIR announced that PREDICT, the annual exhibition industry outlook conference, would be held in-person in Sept. 13-14 at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland, while in Las Vegas, Worre Studios opened a multi-million dollar interactive space designed to host 30,000 online users in a 25,000-sq.ft. space surrounded by a 360-degree, 1.9mm 4k LED interactive screen.
May
More went on in May, as the newly-named Huntington Place in Detroit,, announced that it would be reopening for events come June 25, while the National Hardware Show committed to an in-person event at the Las Vegas Convention Center Oct. 21-23. Of note was Bizzabo’s Virtual Attendee Experience Report, which analyzed survey responses from 700 attendees and data from 967 events held during 2020. The report found that while digital and hybrid events were popular, largely due to circumstance, nothing can replace the impact and importance of an in-person conference.
June
Two of the biggest news stories of the year came in June, and both occurred at the LVCC. The first was the ribbon cutting of a $1 billion addition—the new, state-of-the-art West Hall. The second, following on the same day, was when the LVCC’s West Hall opened its debut doors to World of Concrete, the first major tradeshow held in the country since March 2020. More than 650 exhibitors turned out to toast the first glimpse of normality in more than 12 months. Other news in June saw Reed Exhibitions rebranding as RX, and Exhibitor Advocacy Group releasing a white paper on the future success of tradeshows.
July
July’s headline story was that Nth Degree added members of Renaissance Management’s I&D team to their ranks, reinforcing the Atlanta-based outfit’s position as one of the leading players in the event management and labor services sector.
August
Last-minute cancellations rocked the industry in August, as five shows, NY Auto Show, NAFEM, AANA, RILA, AANS and AVA, pulled out weeks before doors were due to open, with ResCon postponing until April 2022. Some good news came in the second week of the month as The New Orleans Saints and Caesars Entertainment formed a 20-year naming-rights partnership that rebranded New Orleans’ iconic downtown stadium as the Caesars Superdome, home of Super Bowl LIX, to be played in February 2025.
September
In Florida, the Orange County Convention Center received GBAC STAR™ accreditation from the Global Biorisk Advisory Council for adherence to health and safety protocols through more than 100 live events since the beginning of the pandemic. Meanwhile, in Louisville, Kentucky, The Utility Expo reported that its 2021 event added 7 percent more exhibit space than its record-breaking 2019 show. Back in Vegas, MINExpo attracted more than 21,000 attendees to the LVCC. The month’s bad news came with the postponement of the NAB Show to April 2022.
October
More positive signs came in October, as the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) brought more than 13,000 attendees and 233 exhibitors together for a four-day meeting at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, InfoComm 2021 hosted D=SIGN, the digital signage conference, as two half-day programs, running Oct. 26-27, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
November
Famed gearhead, Jay Leno, kicked-off November by launching the SEMA show at the LVCC on Nov. 2., with more than 50,000 attendees descending on Sin City for the four-day event. And as expected, IMEX America hit the Las Vegas Sands Nov. 9-11 with the sort of oomph they had promised back in January, attracting more than 3,300 buyers, 2,200 exhibiting companies and attendees from 200 countries (the travel ban for international travelers to the U.S. was fortunately lifted on Nov. 9, the show’s opening day).
December
Santa’s sleigh brought a successful National Finals Rodeo to Las Vegas, CEIR opened the month with a multi-channel guide to planning B2B in-person events in 2022, always a good sign, and CVent reported expansion within its live event marketplace. And the news that Super Bowl LVIII will be held in Las Vegas in 2024.
All things considered, although it wasn’t the best of times, it also wasn’t the worst. Hopefully 2022 stays on track for the industry’s comeback recovery.
This story originally appeared in the Jan./Feb./Mar. 2022 issue of Exhibit City News, p. 38. For original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/ecn_q1_2022
