With some updates on trade shows and other events circulating in the news lately, we wanted to take a moment to give you an update on the trade shows we were planning on participating in for 2021. *Updated on 09/02/21 with the statement from RMAF*

Another Update on Our Trade Show Plans 

*Updated on 09/02/21*

2021 has been nothing less than a whirlwind of a year for industry trade shows. Unfortunately, after pushing back dates to October 29th-30th, AXPONA will be rescheduled for April 2022 due to safety concerns.

Additionally, Rocky Mountain Audio Festival has canceled its event plans indefinitely, which shows just how gruesome the pandemic has been to these live events. While these recent cancellations are disappointing to hear, we appreciate the transparency that AXPONA and RMAF have shared considering the health and safety of everyone in attendance. 

We are particularly sad to learn that RMAF will not be returning to our calendars at all, but we also have a lot of gratitude for the 17 years this premiere Colorado event has given us. As much as we look forward to seeing you all again, we clearly need to wait until the timing is right.

Here are the press releases from both trade shows regarding the decisions made to cancel this year's events:

From RMAF:

A year and a half ago, our hearts were aching as we made the hard decision to cancel our 2020 show. Back then, we somehow imagined that as a country, we could band together and transcend COVID-19, and our lives could return to normal. We hoped we could ride out a year in isolation and emerge healthy and ready to gather again. Here at RMAF, we spent the year improving our business by producing new room layouts with all the outlets marked, and created a handbook to guide exhibitors as they learned yet again to navigate their exhibitor accounts. We imagined ourselves enthusiastically greeting our audio industry friends in a few weeks, and we’ve held onto that dream in spite of our nervous fears and scary news reports.

Even though some parts of the United States are fully open, the number of people contracting the virus, and the number of deaths attributed to it are still rising, and the CDC is projecting an even more deadly Lambda wave this fall. We are frightened on behalf of our friends in the audio industry on many levels. The very worst thing that we can envision is for someone to fall ill because they came to our show, whether as an exhibitor, a journalist, an attendee, or a volunteer. Good health is a precious gift, and we are learning that although recovery is possible, the residual effects of COVID-19 and its variants can be profound, and we are unwilling to risk even one case. Up until now, we have held onto the possibility that our October show could be produced as planned. After reading and listening to the news concerning the Coronavirus pandemic, and watching the cancellation of numerous other shows, we no longer hold that hope. In spite of our initial optimism, we have read and listened to all of your thoughtful comments and then looked at the numbers and made the difficult decision to cancel RMAF 2021.

This has been a wrenching decision, and along with it comes the added impact of deciding that we are no longer able to envision RMAF as our heart's delight. RMAF was our founder Al Stiefel’s dream, and we’ve done our best to nurture his vision for 12 years, along with help from the Colorado Audio Society and all our volunteers from around the world. Now, we are off to new adventures! And so it is with both sadness and anticipation for the future, we announce that the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest as we have all known it will be no more. It has been our very great pleasure to have served this community of audio professionals. We have learned so much from you! Thank you for 17 years of friendship and support. It has meant more than you can possibly imagine.

We offer you our heartiest wishes for good health and great happiness.

Your Friends,

Marjorie and Marcie

AXPONA released the following statement on August 23rd:

<<< Dear AXPONA Community,

AXPONA will be rescheduled from October 29-31, 2021 until April 22-24, 2022.

Throughout this spring and early summer, enthusiasm for AXPONA in October was sky high.  Attendees were buying tickets, exhibitors were making plans and the media were requesting their press passes. But in recent weeks Covid cases in the US, due largely to the Delta variant, have been spiking again which has adversely impacted consumer travel behavior and corporate travel decisions.

Exhibitors and attendees travel to AXPONA from throughout the United States and from more than 40 other countries. Over the last few weeks, citing concerns over personal health, the unpredictability of international travel restrictions and reinstated companywide travel bans, many community members have told us they are unwilling or unable to commit to AXPONA in October.

So we have worked with our Renaissance Schaumburg venue partner to return AXPONA to its traditional spring timeframe in 2022, April 22–24, and we secured future dates from April 14-16, 2023 and April 12-14, 2024. We look forward to full participation in April with over 200 listening rooms, the Ear Gear Experience, Record Fair, Expo Hall, live concerts, networking events and so much more fun for audio gear buyers and sellers from all over the world to safely enjoy.

Lastly, we support other industry gatherings that go ahead this fall as planned. We believe business and consumer events can be successfully held during these times so long as responsible health and safety measures are implemented and adhered to. In fact, we look forward to seeing many of you at some of these upcoming events soon.

We will be in touch with all AXPONA participants in the days and weeks ahead about the April show. If you have immediate questions, please feel free to reach out to us. Ticket holders may call or send questions to Liz Smith and exhibitors and sponsors may call or send questions to Mark Freed.

Until then, stay safe and healthy and immersed in great sounding music! >>>

While we are disappointed with the need to push back AXPONA until next year, we appreciate the transparency that AXPONA has shown. Eventually, the show will go on, but if that means delaying the show to make it safer and overall a better experience for everyone involved, then so be it! 

We hope that if you are still making plans to be in the Denver area for RMAF that you will stop by and say hi. Many of us as exhibitors and manufacturers have not stopped creating great products to improve your listening experience. We believe this will still be a safe and fun way to check out all the new gear available right now. See you soon!