ISC West Postpones Conference Due To Coronavirus Concerns
Show organizers are planning to hold one of the security industry’s largest conferences in July after several companies indicated they would not send employees to the show.
- By Haley Samsel
- Mar 06, 2020
ISC West, the security conference set for March 17-20 that typically draws over 1,000 international and domestic companies and more than 30,000 security professionals to Las Vegas, has postponed the event to July due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.
Reed Exhibitions, the show’s organizer, announced the decision on Friday. Organizers had previously said the show would go on as planned, but several companies had recently indicated that they would not send their employees to work the show.
Will Wise, the Group Vice President at Reed Exhibitions, said that it was not a decision that the organizers took lightly.
“It is imperative that we maintain our commitment to prioritize the health and safety of everyone involved with ISC West,” Wise said in a statement. “Reed Exhibitions would like to express sincere gratitude to all exhibitors, partners, attendees, suppliers, media and staff, in addition to our Premier Sponsor SIA [Security Industry Association], for their support and communications during this challenging time and we look forward to welcoming the global security and public safety community to Las Vegas in July.”
Dates for the July show, still set to be held at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, will be announced soon, according to Reed. The organizers added that their ISC East show in New York City is still planned to go on as scheduled in November.
Several other conference organizers have made the difficult choice to cancel, postpone or hold their events virtually, including events held by Facebook, The World Bank, IBM and Google. Coronavirus cases worldwide have surpassed 100,000, and over 200 confirmed cases have been diagnosed in the U.S. as of Friday.
For more information on the spread of COVID-19 and if masks are an effective solution, listen to sister publication Occupational Health & Safety’s latest podcast on the virus.
About the Author
Haley Samsel is an Associate Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.