NAB Postpones 2020 Vegas Conference

0

In a letter to the NAB Show community, National Association of Broadcasters President/CEO Gordon Smith announced that the 2020 NAB Show scheduled for late April is “off.”

The NAB is reviewing options for later this year.​​​


The conference, which attracts some 100,000 people annually to the Las Vegas Convention Center, was scheduled from Saturday, April 18 to Wednesday, April 22.

Vendors slowly started to pull out of the event earlier in the week, accelerating their activity on Wednesday; this includes the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition, which announced Wednesday morning that it would not hold its conference, held as an independent event in conjunction with the NAB Show.

The shoulder event has been held for the past seven years.

Coronavirus concerns and a World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of a pandemic on Wednesday led Smith and the NAB to make the call.

Smith’s letter reads as follows:

As you know, we have been carefully monitoring coronavirus developments both domestically and globally over the past few weeks.

In the interest of addressing the health and safety concerns of our stakeholders and in consultation with partners throughout the media and entertainment industry, we have decided not to move forward with NAB Show in April. We are currently considering a number of potential alternatives to create the best possible experience for our community.

This was not an easy decision. Fortunately, we did not have to make this decision alone, and are grateful to our NAB Show community for engaging with us as we grappled with the rapidly-evolving situation. This Show is as much yours as it is ours, and it is important to us that we move forward together.

For nearly 100 years, NAB Show has provided superior value and the best possible experience for exhibitors and attendees. We knew that if we could not deliver on those expectations, we would not move forward. More importantly, keeping the community safe and healthy is NAB’s highest priority; therefore, we are deferring to the developing consensus from public health authorities on the challenges posed by coronavirus.

We are still weighing the best potential path forward, and we ask you for your patience as we do so. We are committed to exploring all possible alternatives so that we can provide a productive setting where the industry can engage with the latest technology, hear from industry thought leaders and make the game-changing connections that drive our industry forward.

I want to stress that despite our disappointment at how this year’s Show has been impacted by global public health concerns, we are more excited than ever about the future of NAB Show and our relationship with you.

We are grateful for each and every member of our Show community. It is your passion for the industry that makes NAB Show a success year after year, and it is that same passion that will drive us into the future as we look ahead to new possibilities later this year and beyond.

Sincerely,

Gordon Signature.png

Gordon H. Smith
President and CEO