NAB 2021 PHFFFT!!!

You just knew that as major exhibitors began pullling out of this year’s National Association of Broadcasters’ Las Vegas clambake an even bigger shoe was going to drop – especially when the trickle began to look more like a stampede.

Wednesday it did.

Citing concerns over the rising number of cases of the Delta Variant of the COVID-19 virus, the NAB cancelled the October convention.

Gordon Smith, the former Republican Senator from Oregon who has led the NAB since 2009 expressed regret about the cancellation.

“It is with a heavy heart that I share with you that we will not hold the NAB Show in person this year as originally planned,” he said. “It has become apparent that we will not be able to deliver the kind of 2021 NAB Show experience that our industry has come to expect or that meets the high standards we set for ourselves.”

Attendees at the giant convention have traditionally numbered in the tens of thousands over the years.

NAB, whose 2020 gathering was held virtually due to the pandemic in the spring, had hoped the COVID situation would have abated to allow for a fall event this year.

No such luck.

They promise to be back next year.

Good luck with that.

More News from Thursday, September 16, 2021