Industry leaders addressed attendees and exhibitors to KBIS Virtual and IBSx today concerning technical difficulties that arose during the shows this week, running February 9-12.
Joining the Zoom panel discussion was Suzie Williford, Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice President of Industry Relations for the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA), John McGeary, Senior Vice President of Business Development for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Geoff Cassidy Senior Vice President, Exhibitions & Meetings, National Association of Home Builders, and Brian Pagel, Executive Vice President Emerald Expositions.
The exhibitor platform of the show developed sudden, extreme and erratic technical glitches, which Pagel described as a “catastrophic server failure.” Attempts were made to rectify the situation which first appeared on the initial day of the show – including an effort to migrate the entire platform to a different server overnight – but this ultimately failed. This led the organizations to make the decision to investigate holding the exhibitor portion of the show at a later date. Refunds will be issued to attendees for both shows.
Associations and show management expressed deep disappointment and regret over the turn of events, praising the teams who worked so hard to bring an exceptional experience to the virtual show floor.
“It’s disappointing for the industry and the team that have worked tirelessly for months,” Williford said. “My heart goes out to them. The excitement and buzz from the industry has been wonderful.”
“It took a really good team to put this all together,” McGeary said. “The collaboration meetings with the KBIS team every week were great. We worked hard in building something we thought would have tremendous value. We appreciate the support from everyone in the industry.”
The NKBA Voices from the Industry conference and the Design + Industry Awards event as well as the KBIS NeXT Stage and Pavilions programming will continue as scheduled at the https://nkba.org/kbis-2021-conference/ site.
The IBSx educational content will continue as planned, and most of the other show programming, including the General Sessions, Game Changers, the Demo Zones and Shop Talks, will continue as scheduled today through Friday. All attendees, regardless of registration type will now have access to IBSx education. Visit BuildersShow.com to see what’s happening.
Editorial Director and Senior Writer for TileLetter and TileLetter ARTISAN
Lesley Goddin has been writing and journaling since her first diary at age 11. Her journey has taken her through a career in publishing and publicity, landing her the editor position of TileLetter and its special publications in 2006. Her goal is to educate, inspire, recognize and encourage those in the tile industry -- especially the tile and stone contractor.
