If you run, plan to exhibit at or want to attend a trade show or convention in 2021, you're probably wondering just how seriously you should take your travel planning at this point.
It's complicated, obviously. No one wants to be part of a superspreader event, and everyone wants to resume business as normal. It's important to be able to meet customers, see new equipment and renew contacts.
The Plastics Industry Association, which runs NPE, says it remains positive that the triennial event will go as scheduled May 17-21, 2021, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.
"We're going forward," association CEO Tony Radoszewski told Steve Toloken. "The only thing that would stop us was if a third-party organization — that could be the state of Florida, the city of Orlando, the convention center, or the federal government — would say, 'You can't have these meetings.' … That's going to be the deciding factor for us."
But the organizers of Medical Design & Manufacturing West, originally set for Feb. 11-13 in Anaheim, Calif., have moved the event to Aug. 10-12.
If trade shows do go on? Expect they will face rules limiting attendance, such as those unveiled by Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Sept. 29.
Events are limited to 250 people, but will be allowed up to 1,000 if planners can separate guests into rooms with no more than 250 people in each, provide floor-to-ceiling walls between areas and preregister all guests, among other regulations.
One thousand people? For what it's worth, NPE2018 had 56,000 attendees over four days.
