The Society of Plastics Engineers is moving its 2021 Antec event to May, as a result of the cancellation of the in-person NPE trade show.
"The unfortunate cancellation of NPE gives SPE the opportunity to move its annual technical conference back to its traditional May timeframe," SPE CEO Patrick Farrey said in a Jan. 20 news release.
In recent years, when Antec fell in the same year as NPE, the conference and trade show had co-located. For 2021, however, SPE originally planned to hold Antec separately from NPE, as an in-person event in Denver.
In December, however, SPE announced that the 2021 Antec would be a virtual event, starting March 22. Now that schedule is changing again, Antec 2021 now will start May 5.
"SPE had previously agreed to move Antec to March to avoid the conflict of having two major industry events in the same month, but May has always been the preferred time frame for our members, attendees, exhibitors and sponsors," Farrey said.
Antec 2020 was also a virtual event, with more than 4,000 attendees and 50 exhibitors participating, Farrey said. Antec is the largest annual event sponsored by Danbury, Conn.-based SPE.