ISE Scales Back From June Main Show To Four Regional Events In Europe That Month

March 11, 2021 by Dave Haynes

Integrated Systems Europe’s 2021 plans for a Barcelona show in June have been officially scaled back to a two-day hybrid event in that city, followed by three more June events in other European cities.

Show managers Integrated Systems Events, and its co-owners AVIXA and CEDIA, have jointly announced ISE Live & Online, a series of local events in Barcelona, Munich, Amsterdam and London. Live & Online will take the place of the traditional in-person large trade show format.

“We have reached this decision following extensive discussions with our exhibitors over the last few months, and more explicitly, these last 10 days,” says Integrated Systems Events Managing Director Mike Blackman. “All along there has been a clear demand for a four-day ISE show in Barcelona in June.  However, uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and international travel remains, which means we are unable to run ISE 2021 in its traditional format.

“Our exhibitors have made it clear that there is a desire to get the industry together, but on a local level.  In response, we are targeting Europe’s key markets across the AV sector and aim to deliver a quality audience who want to meet potential suppliers, existing customers and network with their peers.”

ISE Live & Online Schedule

“For 2021, we have a rich and exciting digital offering,” adds Blackman. “We are proud to be working with CISCO on this innovative approach. We will be bringing ISE to four cities in June and continuing with our popular RISE Spotlight programme throughout the year.  Working with the industry in this way, we will be providing meaningful opportunities for sales teams to meet their customers, for people to experience product innovations, and of course, for networking.”

“COVID has taught us all to listen more attentively,” says David Labuskes, AVIXA CEO.  “Listen to our neighbours, our family, our co-workers, our customers and our market.  I believe this approach reflects what we’ve heard, a strong desire for prudent and safe face-to-face gatherings that can reinforce business connections and initiate growth.  We are honoured to be in a position to offer these to our community.”

The real ISE show is now set to be back in action in February 2022.

This was almost certainly what was going to happen and Blackman hinted at regional events 11 days ago, when ISE laid out plans for June and gave exhibitors a week’s time window to decide if they wanted to exhibit live, or drop plans. Clearly, many to most exhibitors pulled out, and the first Barcelona ISE would have been a shell of its normal size and energy. It was evident something was up, as both the exhibitor list and floor layout for the June show were unavailable the last couple of days.

By June, vaccination percentages should be well along and people will feel more comfortable, and able, to travel by car to a city perhaps 2-3 hours away for product showcases and networking.

It’s a bit funny to see one of the stops being the RAI in Amsterdam, as I am sure there are numerous pro AV and signage people who left the show in Feb. 2020 happy they were never going to get lost in the maze of that building again.

It all means the first big pro AV trade show in roughly 20 months will be InfoComm in October, in Orlando.

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