EXCLUSIVE: Calls For Sydney Hi Fi Show To Be Cancelled Due To Coronavirus Risks
Serious concerns have been raised as to whether the NSW Health Department should prevent a Hi Fi Show scheduled for 3rd Of April in Sydney to go ahead because of the Coronavirus.
The event organisers have already been told that several brands are pulling out from the event.
Called Hi Fi 2020 the event is organised by Jim Preece a former Sound & Image Sales Director, who had a falling out with his previous events partner The Chester Group who are also scheduled to run an event in October.
Several people have contacted ChannelNews concerned that the event which has had “little if any marketing” in Sydney is still going ahead considering that NSW has the high concentration of known Coronavirus cases.
Scheduled to take place at the Novotel Hotel close to Central Station where parking is $15 an hour the organisers have issued no press releases to either ChannelNews or SoundMag concerning the event.
Past events have been poorly attended.
Several distributors of Hi Fi equipment including the likes of BusiSoft have said that they will not attend the event.
Australia’s largest Hi Fi retailer The Lifestyle Store is instead investing in the Home Show instead of a “Niche Hi Fi Show” according to Company executives.
Last year the owners of StereoNet chose not to run a show in 2020.
Jim Preece has not commented on why the show is at this stage scheduled to go ahead when several other conferences and trade shows are being cancelled.
One unhappy vendor wrote to ChannelNews earlier this week claiming that organisers of the Hi Fi 2020 are not investing in marketing and are not delivering a return on investment for Hi Fi Companies. “Some have already asked for their money back” they claimed.
“This show should be cancelled as it is a high-risk event” said one industry executive.
ChannelNews understands that no industry executives have signed up for the Chester event and in the past events organised by the Chester Group have been poorly attended.
Informa is to postpone or cancel more than 100 events worth about $800M in the next few months, as coronavirus causes global travel disruption and forces a growing number of people to stay indoors.
Shares in the world’s largest operator of business events and exhibitions have fallen almost a quarter in just under three weeks.
It appears that the organisers of the Sydney Hi Fi event which is set to be held right next to Chinatown in Sydney which has been deserted during the recent Coronavirus outbreak are not concerned about the virus outbreak.