Conference industry not coming back soon as Covid-19 pandemic lingers

Stuck at home for the past year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, I’m itching to get out and meet people and learn new things at industry conferences. But with a resurgence of the deadly coronavirus and the botched U.S. government rollout of vaccines, the conference industry is likely to stay virtual beyond midyear.
On Jan. 19, the National Retail Federation canceled its planned in-person NRF 2021: Retail’s Big Show, which had been planned for the first week of June at the Javits Center in New York City. That’s because the city is using the Javits Center as a vaccine distribution venue and expects the distribution process to continue through the summer, the NRF said in a press release. The NRF will hold the conference online instead.
Virtual conferences are in vogue right now. I recently attended the all-digital CES 2021 this month and the virtual Web Summit in December.
CES plans to return to an in-person show in Las Vegas in January 2022. Web Summit has scheduled an in-person show for Lisbon, Portugal, for this November.
But when will other conferences start holding in-person gatherings?
The South by Southwest entertainment and cultural event, also known as SXSW, is holding a virtual event March 16–20 after canceling last year’s show because of Covid.
Meanwhile, organizers of MWC Barcelona, formerly known as Mobile World Congress, are pressing ahead with an in-person event in Spain on June 28 through July 1. The event was originally scheduled for the first week of March but GSMA pushed it back because of “external circumstances related to Covid-19.”
Other conferences are going forward with in-person events this summer as well. They include the National Restaurant Association Show, set for May 22-25 at McCormick Place in Chicago and the Sweets & Snacks Expo, scheduled for June 23-25 in Indianapolis.

Photo: “Creative rendition of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles” by NIAID.