It must have been a difficult decision: Industry reacts to NAB cancellation

TVBEurope hears from key industry figures about the decision to cancel NAB Show 2021

By Jenny Priestley

Published: September 17, 2021 Updated: September 21, 2021

TVBEurope hears from key industry figures about the decision to cancel NAB Show 2021

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Following the news earlier this week that the 2021 NAB Show would no longer be taking place next month, TVBEurope asked key members of the industry to give us their reactions on the cancellation.

Avid president and CEO Jeff Rosica said it must have been an incredibly difficult decision but was the right one to take. Avid supports NAB as well as other industry organisations but it's certainly in the best interest of everyone to keep clear of large gatherings right now, he told TVBEurope.

For us at Avid, this means we are standing by our decision earlier this year to follow this course until we know we can be safe. The good news is that we've been able to adapt and remain fully engaged with our customer community throughout the pandemic. Trade shows will eventually return to our go-to-market mix, but not this year and not until we can be thoroughly confident that the situation is under control.

Rob Malcolm, chief product officer at Imagine Communications expressed the company's disappointment at the news, but added they appreciated the tireless work of the NAB team to try to make this year's event happen.

The pandemic has been an unprecedented event in all of our lifetimes, added Malcolm. That the disease continues to evolve, creating new challenges like the Delta variant, means that planning travel and associations at any distance into the future becomes difficult. For this reason, we hope IBC will make a decision sooner rather than later about whether the planned December event may suffer from a similar cascade of cancellations.

Exhibitions remain vital to Imagine, as a way of meeting our customers and debating the best technological route forward for them. We sincerely hope that we will be able to meet in April 2022 for a very successful NAB Show.

NAB Show 2021 has been cancelled

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Other reactions include:

Jon Finegold, chief marketing officer at Signiant: Of course, safety is the top priority and so we understand the decision but are certainly disappointed we won't have the opportunity to connect with the industry in person as we have so many exciting things to share. We look forward to connecting with the market in other ways and look forward to getting back to in-person events when safe to do so.

Ciaran Doran, director of marketing, Rohde & Schwarz Broadcast and Media: It is deeply disappointing that the US international travel embargo created a major barrier to our participation but demonstrates the real ongoing fear with Covid around the world. Broadcasters are rightly cautious they have programming obligations and we respect customer's decisions not to travel to Las Vegas. So we will bring the show to them over the coming months in the run up to April 2022 when, God willing, we can all meet again in person

Mike Grieve, commercial director of Mo-Sys Engineering: The cancellation of NAB 2021 is a disappointment, of course, but it is also the right choice. Our products - and indeed much of the industry - sell on a global basis, and if the continuing pandemic means it is difficult for the world to get together right now, then we will continue with the online marketing strategy we've been following for the last 21 months. We look forward to NAB 2022.

Miguel Churruca, marketing and communications director Brainstorm Multimedia: We were looking forward to re-engage in person with customers, partners and the market in general, as we have been doing for the past 25 years. However, the health situation is far from controlled, and if we add the current travel restrictions this effectively prevented most of our team from attending the show. We also believe the NAB took the necessary steps to ensure everybody's safety, which we applaud and acknowledge, and we certainly hope to be back to normal by NAB 2022, which should represent the return of the shows as we know them.

The broadcast business requires to take close looks at the products in person - one-to-one demos, face-to-face meetings, long discussions with customers and visually engaging presentations -, and while these can be done remotely, the personal contact certainly improves the experience. An international show is the perfect scenario to measure the pulse of the industry and the manufacturers, which, combined with attractive venues, is what traditionally brought visitors. In the meantime, we will use our own resources to continue engaging with the market, even if remotely, with another edition of the Brainstorm Virtual Week which will be announced soon.

Dominic Harland, CEO, GB Labs: We would like to thank NAB for making every effort to deliver a live show this year, and for making the difficult decision to cancel the event in order to put safety first. While we are disappointed not to have the opportunity to meet with our customers and partners at this year's event, we look forward to reconnecting with our industry colleagues and friends in Las Vegas in April 2022.

Alison Pavitt, director of sales and marketing at Pebble: It was the right decision given the amount of companies both inside and outside of the US who had cancelled their presence at the show. We'll miss the opportunity to reconnect in person with our peers and customers across the pond in Vegas, but Team Pebble is very much looking forward to NAB in April 2022. In the meantime we'll be attending smaller, more regional events and carrying out customer visits where we can, and of course carrying on connecting digitally an

LINK:	https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/it-must-have-been-a-difficult-decis...
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