Organizers behind the ITEX Education & Exposition (ITEX) trade show, set to be held on April 14 and 15 in Orlando, announced Wednesday that it has been postponed due to impacts caused by the recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It joins a list of numerous office technology dealer and printing-related events to either be put on hold or outright canceled for 2020.
ITEX trade show’s organizers decided to postpone the annual event following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advising against gatherings of 50 people or more and the White House recommending people not to gather in groups of ten or more this week.
Marc Spring, founder and CEO of ITEX, stated, “The decision to postpone ITEX’s 20th Anniversary event has been a difficult one to make, and I apologize for the delay in the announcement. However, it is unavoidable, as the health, safety, and well-being of the show’s sponsors, attendees, exhibitors, speakers, and staff is our primary concern.”
New dates for the show will be determined once more information from state and federal officials, the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the state of COVID-19, both domestically and internationally, becomes available.
“We appreciate our industry’s understanding and support of this decision and look forward to putting on a fantastic event at a later date,” Spring added.
The last week has produced a number of cancelations or postponements. Toshiba America Business Solutions announced that its 2020 LEAD Conference, slated for May 5-7 in Las Vegas, was canceled. In a note to customers, TABS President and CEO Scott Maccabe said the company will hold smaller and virtual events through the balance of the year in order to touch on topics of interest and to keep dealers and resellers informed of new Toshiba products and programs that are on the horizon.
Kyocera Document Solutions America has postponed its series of regional conferences, including the national conference scheduled for May 7-8 in Cleveland. The company is targeting early fall for the makeup of these events.
The Business Technology Association is making plans to reschedule its 2020 BTA National Conference, originally scheduled for June 11-12 in Chicago. BTA Executive Director Brent Hoskins said that details on the new dates would be available in the coming weeks.
Both HP and Xerox have canceled scheduled customer events. It’s interesting to note that HP also has decided to refocus its energies on the health and safety of its employees and will not be issuing any public communications in regards to its attempt to acquire HP.
The Inkjet Summit, originally scheduled for April 20-22 in Austin, Texas, has been bumped to Aug. 17-19. The drupa international printing equipment exhibition, a two-plus week event held every four years in Dusseldorf, Germany, has been pushed from June to next April.
As a noteworthy aside, stock market shares of Fujifilm shot up 15% Wednesday on the news that an active ingredient in the company’s Avigan drug, also known as Favipiravir, has aided in the recovery of coronavirus patients. Avigan, manufactured by a Fujifilm subsidiary, was approved for use in Japan in 2014. It was also used as an emergency aid in 2016 against the Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea.
###
About ITEX
ITEX is the largest and most extensive national trade show connecting vendors and resellers in the office technology space. Founded by Marc Spring in 2001, ITEX was developed to provide dealers with access to a vendor-agnostic trade show. ITEX features practical education that addresses modern industry solutions to help grow their businesses. Spring reacquired the show in 2016 and continues ITEX’s mission of being at the forefront of the industry while keeping a pulse on actionable industry changes.
