One of the world’s biggest trade shows has been canceled as mounting concerns over the coronavirus outbreak ripple across the business world. Organizers called off the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this month after big-name participants such as OSRAM, Ericsson, Intel and LG pulled out.
Today, we learn that Signify has withdrawn from Light + Building, the world’s largest lighting show, with less than three weeks before the show is set to begin. This announcement is on top of OSRAM’s decision to have one booth instead of two and Zumtobel’s decision not to exhibit, although the OSRAM and Zumtobel decisions were made prior to the virus outbreak.
If other large exhibitors follow Signify’s decision, will the show go on? I am not so sure. If the largest companies do not plan to participate, what will happen to attendance? If the midsize companies think attendance will be down, does it make sense for them to spend 200,000 to 300,000 Euro’s? Make no mistake, the Signify decision is huge and we bet several other companies are currently evaluating their decision to exhibit.
We have been in touch with show management on a nearly daily basis for the past two weeks. If there is a change in the status of the show, we’ll post it here. As of this writing, everything is a go.
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