This is supposed to be trade-show season. The time when companies send their employees to industry tech shows and user-group meetings to see and experience the latest offerings in their field. A time when companies expend a good portion of their budget on booth space, shipping costs, and hotel and travel expenses to get their products and employees in front of thousands of people.

This year, however, due to concerns about the Covid-19, conferences are being cancelled left and right. From fashion to food to finance, show websites are plastering “cancelled” notices across their home pages. Design News  lists dozens of tech shows around the world that have shuttered or postponed. These include shows from Apple, Facebook, Google, Gartner, and both the China and Korea Semicon shows.

Some shows have taken it upon themselves and self-cancelled or postponed indefinitely, such as AMT’s manufacturing technology show, MT360, and Hexagon’s HxGN LIVE Smart Manufacturing Detroit 2020, both scheduled for May. Others have been closed by edict, with governors in several states banning gatherings larger than 100, 250, or 500 people. Such a move by Ohio’s director of public health, Amy Action, led to the cancellation of this year’s ASQ World Conference On Quality and Improvement. Even IMTS, manufacturing’s 500-pound-gorilla of a show, a good six months out and—so far—on track, is keeping an eye on the situation and its attendees on notice. 

According to CNBC  “The coronavirus outbreak has caused the cancellation or postponement of more than 24 exhibitions and conferences worldwide, hammering the $2.5 trillion trade show industry and foreshadowing more pain to come.”

Compounding the delays and cancellations, trade shows by nature entail a commitment in time and money for both attendees and vendors. They require long-term planning. And changing plans for a trade show is like turning a battleship. 

Given the pandemic’s developing and uncertain course, with restrictions on public gatherings likely to increase, the path forward may seem unclear, but we can help you find a new direction. As a long-standing member of the quality and manufacturing community, we are in this with you and have felt the impact of the situation as well. Although not as visceral as the lights, lasers, robots, and smell of cutting oil in an exhibit hall, a prudent and effective alternative is to pivot to digital solutions, as many schools and universities are doing. There are more nimble and less costly methods of reaching your customers or users than attending a trade show, or setting up your own user-group conference… no matter how big or small. 

Quality Digest offers dozens of digital advertising opportunities to keep your lead-gen efforts active and flowing; we’re altering our workflow processes so that we can accomodate partner initiatives quicker and are prepared to turn last-minute changes and placements into successful campaigns. Consider reaching hundreds of potential customers through our webinar program, allowing you to demonstrate your knowledge, products, and studies directly to registered users while letting Quality Digest do the heavy lifting on the production, management, and marketing of the event. We also offer opportunities for interviews on our weekly show, Quality Digest Live, and direct eblasts to our mailing list to reach an increasingly digital workforce.

View our media kit online here, or contact us directly at sales@qualitydigest.com, or by calling (530) 893-4095 x1004.