Monday, March 9, 2020 AXPONA, the largest audio expo in the Western hemisphere, has moved its dates at Chicago’s Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center to August 7–9. Originally scheduled for April 17-19, the show was on course to feature at least 200 active exhibits, countless headphone displays, a huge marketplace, live entertainment, and more.
In a statement released to exhibitors on March 9 shortly before 4pm, Joel Davis, founder and CEO of AXPONA sponsor JDEvents, wrote that the move was precipitated “out of concern for the health and safety of all participants due to the growing coronavirus situation. This decision was made following an outpouring of feedback from the AXPONA community over the last 72 hours . . .. We rescheduled out of an abundance of caution during this unpredictable time. . . . We will contact all exhibitors and attendees directly later this week as we work through the details of the move.”
In response to questions submitted by email, Davis explained, “Our decision was based on input from hundreds of customers, including conversations, emails, and texts, in addition to our own best assessment of the situation and what will ultimately be in the best interest of the industry. We only had one option available to us from the hotel. It happened to be in August. It’s not easy to find an open week at any venue given [that] we use almost the entire venue and we need 5-6 days total to produce the event.
“Since no one can predict the future course of the coronavirus or when the peak will be, we are simply trying to reschedule to what we hope will be a much safer date. We are preparing to produce AXPONA in August. Yes this has been a challenge for us all. But every event organizer is going thru similar challenges right now, so JDE is not unique in that regard. We all have to do what’s best for the communities that we serve.”
Click Here: Alfa Romeo Racing Suit