Although what KBIS stakeholders are calling a “catastrophic server failure” has discontinued the exhibitor booth portion of the KBIS Virtual platform, the valuable programming that is always a part of the overall show will continue to be available to attendees throughout the rest of this week.
The team is working on a potential revamped event to take place later this year in recognition of all the time and energy the exhibitors put into creating their booths for this year’s virtual edition of KBIS. The Best of KBIS and the 30’s Choice Awards are being considered for the future event as well.
The NKBA Voices from the Industry (VFTI) conference and Design + Industry Awards event, as well as the KBIS NeXT Stage and Pavilions programming, are intact and will continue as scheduled and will still be available until March 31. VFTI sessions will be available to attendees through June. You can learn more by clicking HERE.
“A future date for exhibitor booth openings has not been declared, as we need a little time to pause and really dig into understanding the technology issues and what our options are,” said Brian Pagel, executive vice president at Emerald, the company that produces KBIS. “We will be working on this over the next few weeks and come up with our recommendations.”
The process of issuing refunds to all exhibitors and expo attendees has already started and should be complete in the next few weeks. Exhibitor booth and sponsor fees will be refunded, as well as additional integration fees tied into their show packages.
“My heart goes out to the industry and all the teams that have worked tirelessly for months to produce KBIS 2021,” said Suzie Williford, the NKBA’s executive vice president of industry relations and chief strategy officer. “At the end of the day, 2020 taught us a lot, and we realize how supportive we all are of each other. I can only come away grateful for that.”
“Our commitment to the marketplace is as strong as it has ever been,” said Pagel. “We are deeply discouraged by the way this played out, but our brands are as strong as they have ever been as well.”
