The postponement of The Video Show due to take place this March did not caught Fujifilm off guard, and the company will reveal its alternative plans soon, as more companies adjust their strategies.

The Photography Show & The Video Show, which was scheduled to run from March 14 until March 17 in UK, has been postponed, due to concerns over coronavirus, a situation also faced by many other shows around the world, as ProVideo Coalition revealed in a recent article about the spread of COVID-19. After the unexpected announcement related to the UK show, one company has already signalled that it was not caught by surprise and is studying alternative ways to share news about its products.

Fujifilm UK was quick to react to the confirmation by Future Plc that The Photography|The Video Show, at the Birmingham NEC, was postponed, and published a statement saying that “The coronavirus epidemic is a unique situation – and from both a staff and an audience perspective, the decision to postpone The Photography Show is the most responsible decision and one that we fully support. Through this evolving situation, the health of Fujifilm employees, partners and customers is our primary concern.”

The statement also revealed that Fujifilm has been aware of the development of the situation, and preparing for an eventual cancellation. The company adds that “while we understand that the photography community will be disappointed, we have been developing our contingency plan for several weeks and we look forward to bringing all of the elements of The Photography Show experience to life over the coming weeks, the schedule of which will be announced shortly.”

Cancellations all over the world

Fujifilm UK and Fujifilm globally will probably follow the same path other companies have taken. When the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was cancelled many companies opted to offer online streaming conferences to show their products. The Sony Xperia 1 II was revealed during an online presentation, a solution followed by other companies that were scheduled to show products at the MWC Barcelona. The MWC Los Angeles 2020, due to happen October 27-30, is still on schedule.

The SXSW 2020 conference in Austin, due to happen March 13-22 was also cancelled and the organizers are “exploring options to reschedule the event and are working to provide a virtual SXSW online experience as soon as possible for 2020 participants, starting with SXSW EDU”. Adobe canceled its Las Vegas Summit – March 29 to April 2 – and made “the difficult but important decision to make Summit/Imagine 2020 an online event this year”.

Growing concerns over the coronavirus led Nvidia to cancel its GTC San Jose, which is usually held at the San Jose Convention Center, in California. This 2020 edition was scheduled for March 22-26, and it will still happen, but Nvidia decided that it will be a digital conference rather than a live event. Facebook also announced that its F8 2020 developer conference, set to take place from May 5th – 6th in San Jose, California will not happen and the company is planning other ways for the community to get together through a combination of locally hosted events, videos and live streamed content.

Will the Adobe Summit EMEA be cancelled?

Epic Games, the company behind the Unreal Engine also cancelled its Unreal Fest Europe 2020 in Prague, which was scheduled to happen from April 29-May 1.  A note on its Twitter account says this: “We are working with this year’s speakers to bring select presentations to other conferences and virtual events, so stay tuned to our channels for more information.”

Adobe, that cancelled, on March 3, its Adobe Summit and Magento Imagine live event, scheduled to happen from March 29 to April 2  at the Sands Expo Convention Center, and plans an online event, said then that the Adobe Summit EMEA from May 13-14, 2020 in London, was still on schedule. It still is, today, but as all of Europe is now battling coronavirus, and many shows are being cancelled or postponed, the European version of the Adobe Summit may well become an online event too.