Amid surging novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and many exhibitor withdrawals, NAB 2021 has been cancelled. The show and all its co-located events will not take place as scheduled next month in Las Vegas NV. Chris Brown, EVP and Managing Director of Global Connections and Events at the National Association of Broadcasters, made the announcement this morning at about 10am EDT. He broke the news via an emailed letter to the NAB Show community.
Brown’s letter read as follows:
“For more than a year we have worked tirelessly to bring our industry together safely in Las Vegas at NAB Show. Unfortunately, the pandemic and surge of the Delta variant has presented unexpected and insurmountable challenges for our global community.
“As we have always kept the best interest and safety of the industry as our priority, it has become apparent in the face of these challenges that we can no longer effectively host NAB Show or our co-located events, the Radio Show and Sales and Management Television Exchange, in person.
“NAB Show is the premiere destination for the media and entertainment industry and we will not move forward with a show that delivers anything less than the excellence our community has come to expect and deserves from us.
“While we are disappointed that we will not be together again in person next month, we look forward to converging at the 2022 NAB Show, April 23 to 27, 2022, to reignite our passion for our business and focus on a bright future ahead.
“Stay tuned for details regarding virtual options for accessing select 2021 NAB Show content through NAB Amplify.”
No large-scale, multi-thousand-person commercial-AV trade events have occurred in the United States since before the pandemic’s onset in early 2020.
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