AXPONA 2020 Postponed until August

Monday, March 9, 2020 AXPONA, the largest audio expo in the Western hemisphere, has moved its dates at Chicago’s Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center to August 7–9. Originally scheduled for April 17-19, the show was on course to feature at least 200 active exhibits, countless headphone displays, a huge marketplace, live entertainment, and more.

In a statement released to exhibitors on March 9 shortly before 4pm, Joel Davis, founder and CEO of AXPONA sponsor JDEvents, wrote that the move was precipitated “out of concern for the health and safety of all participants due to the growing coronavirus situation. This decision was made following an outpouring of feedback from the AXPONA community over the last 72 hours . . .. We rescheduled out of an abundance of caution during this unpredictable time. . . . We will contact all exhibitors and attendees directly later this week as we work through the details of the move.”

In response to questions submitted by email, Davis explained, “Our decision was based on input from hundreds of customers, including conversations, emails, and texts, in addition to our own best assessment of the situation and what will ultimately be in the best interest of the industry. We only had one option available to us from the hotel. It happened to be in August. It’s not easy to find an open week at any venue given [that] we use almost the entire venue and we need 5-6 days total to produce the event.

“Since no one can predict the future course of the coronavirus or when the peak will be, we are simply trying to reschedule to what we hope will be a much safer date. We are preparing to produce AXPONA in August. Yes this has been a challenge for us all. But every event organizer is going thru similar challenges right now, so JDE is not unique in that regard. We all have to do what’s best for the communities that we serve.”

COMMENTS
Bogolu Haranath's picture

Good move :-) .......

jamesgarvin's picture

Doctors for the Feds. are telling us that we are, at least, a year and a half away from a distributable vaccine. The spread of the virus is likely to be worse in August than April. I'm not sure the better solution is to schedule the show when the situation is likely to be worse, causing a lot of attendees in the interim to reschedule time off work, change their family schedules, and cause exhibitors to change their plans, only to then cancel in August. If the feedback was as bad as they stated, perhaps simply cancel this year. I do note there was not anything in the press release about refunds for folks who could not change their plans.

Joe Whip's picture

But the correct one. After all, it is only an audio show. If the event needs to be cancelled in August because of the virus, then we are in really big trouble.

Briandrumzilla's picture

Now we have more time to stock up on TP.

Jason Victor Serinus's picture

... and you find that you've got so much of it around that you can't reach your sound system, you can mold it into a sound absorber

jamesgarvin's picture

I should have gone for the TP instead of the milk.

prerich45's picture

LOL...People trading their Wilsons for TP, soap, and sanitizer.

Bogolu Haranath's picture

I don't think it is a good idea to spray all that audio equipment with disinfectant spray several times during the show hours : -) .......

Mycophile's picture

I'm sure this must be a glitch somewhere, but I just tried booking lodging there with my Marriott Bonvoy account to encompass those new dates. SOLD OUT. Extending the stay beyond those dates, there were rooms available... starting at $466 per night!

Jason Victor Serinus's picture

It would be best to book at the Hyatt/Embassy Suites.

Mycophile's picture

Thanks, that did it!

tonykaz's picture

It's killing people, Italy just went into lockdown.

It's causing chaos in the Business Communities, the Social Communities, the Medical Communities, etc....

We are still having a News Media blackout of accurate & crucially important Information with the White House not taking the Crisis Lead.

S.Korea has done 600,000 tests already, we -- US -- have no tests. What....?

Stock Market just had their worst day EVER!!! Is the Market finally correcting???

Read Forign Press for important Information, our Corporate Press is failing.

This will be bad for Bricks & Mortar Stores. ( sorry, I feel for y'all )

Bon Vivant

Tony in Venice

ps. just this evening it's announced that US Govt employees are beginning to Quarantine themselves.

ps. 2 ) The NEW Russo/Saudi oil WAR --- American Shale Industry looks like it's collapsing, suggesting the end of the Petrodollar and a possible bail-out by White House.

invaderzim's picture

Who says the US has no tests?

tonykaz's picture

US now has one million tests for our 300 million population

Tony in Venice

Bogolu Haranath's picture

Commercial airlines could cancel their flights and/or reduce the number of flights, if there are more cases reported :-) .......

stereohifi's picture

Next hifi show is Montreal, will it be cancel too?
The last comms with the promoters said it will happens, but situation changes everyday it seems....

tonykaz's picture

Audio Show, Auto Show delayed.

it's looking like a bad year.

Tony in Venice

count.de.monet's picture

The Count sayz... "With coronovirus killing so many old people expect to see lots of McIntosh gear hit the market! Its a good time to be in the estate sale business."

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