ISE Pushes Back Its Barcelona Show To Mid-May, And You Know Why

January 11, 2022 by Dave Haynes

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) has been pushed back three months, and will now take place in mid-May in Barcelona.

The re-scheduling is directly attributable to the pandemic, says ISE’s organizers, “in the light of the increasing impact of the Omicron variant in Spain.”

“We’ve been closely monitoring the conditions in Europe and have been working hard on your behalf to balance health and safety concerns with the need for commerce and in-person interaction,” says Mike Blackman, Managing Director of Integrated Systems Events. “It’s been a challenging time for so many over the past two years, and whilst we cannot wait to meet up with everyone at ISE 2022, listening to our exhibitors, owners and stakeholders, we have agreed the best course of action is to postpone the show edition for three months.”

“By moving the event to the spring, it provides time for our community to rebalance and for confidence in international travel and meetings to resume,” Blackman adds. “We will be working closely with all our exhibitors and stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition to the new dates. We look forward to hosting the global AV community at ISE 2022 in May in our new home in Barcelona.”

“While balancing the commitment to both commerce and gathering has been difficult in these uncertain times, we believe the postponement of the ISE show until May does just that,” says David Labuskes, CEO of AVIXA, which owns the show, along with CEDIA. “Our community hungers for the opportunity to reconvene in 2022. This schedule makes that all the more possible for all of us.  Beginning with ISE, we are looking forward to the summer of AV where we will have the opportunity to come together at InfoComm in June and InfoComm Beijing in July – it could not be a better way to gather and reinforce the opportunities and success for our industry.”

“We want to ensure ISE 2022 will be a great success for visitors and exhibitors alike as it has been for nearly two decades, and that starts with bringing together as much of our community as possible. We know the entire home technology industry is enthusiastic about coming together in-person, and we are confident this move to May will ensure the most vibrant return for all participants. We cannot wait to connect with all of you in Barcelona this spring,” adds Daryl Friedman, CEO of CEDIA.

The trade show and conference will now take place on 10-13 May 2022 at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Vía. It will run about a month before InfoComm in Vegas, so it is likely the North Americans who in normal times would attend both might choose one instead, unless they have reasons beyond walking the floor to see what’s new or improved. Having been to Las Vegas 30-something times, and Barcelona never, guess which way I would lean.

This is not surprising, and also prudent. Cancellation would have been a nightmare all around, and I suspect those exhibitors who already have stands and gear in Barcelona can store it. Dunno who bears that cost, but not my issue. While there are hopes and expectations that the latest wave of COVID will subside, it was unlikely to happen in the next three weeks. May certainly looks more promising, though we’ve been down this road a few times now.

I cancelled my ISE flights and lodgings weeks ago. Hopefully this is enough time to get rework things without penalty. The pandemic is building up a big flight credit balance for me with airlines.

As far as I know, NRF is still on next week in New York.