The very first edition of The Beauty Experience trade show – formerly known as IBS NY– was ready start today at the Javits Center in New York City. But last night something unprecedented happened: the organization decided to cancel the event considering the dangerous health situation and the “emergency” declared in New York State.
Created by the union of two historic industry-icons, American Salon and The International Beauty Show (IBS NY), The Beauty Experience New York was scheduled to take place from March 8-10, 2020. Yesterday the number of coronavirus cases in New York increased dramatically and unexpectedly, consequently the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had no other choice but to declare the state of emergency.
Therefore, at the very last moment, for The Beauty Experience everything changed. Questex, owner of both The Beauty Experience NY (IBS NY) and the International Esthetics, Cosmetics and Spa Conference (IECSC) events, decided then to cancel both trade shows. “We are facing an unprecedented health situation. There is no greater importance than the health and safety of our community members and that will always be the guiding principle that drives,” they shared on an official statement yesterday evening.
In the morning, Estetica’s Sergi Bancells met with John Siefert, President of both The Beauty Experience NY (IBS NY) and the International Esthetics, Cosmetics and Spa Conference (IECSC). “We took the advice of the World Health Organization, the Department of Health and the Executive Team at the Javits Center, which is the facility that is hosting the event. At the same time, we had our call centers completely overloaded with attendees who were getting all the buzz and were all nervous about the COVID-19 state of emergency that is taking place. Therefore, we made the decision that the right thing to do for everybody involved, for our entire community, is to put people in front of profits, cancel the show over these dates and look for later dates to host the same New York City event, potentially in the late Summer or Fall,” said to Estetica John Siefert.
What about the reaction of exhibitors, attendees and educators, who almost everyone of them were already in New York prepping for the event? “It’s been very empathetic,” says Siefert. “People understand that we don’t want to put anybody in harm’s way. So they’ve been very empathetic and supportive of these decisions. Of course, you’re always going to have people that are disappointed because we really tried to create an environment where our community can come together and do business.”
“We’ve sent a note out to all our attendees as well all of our exhibitors that explains that within the next 14 days they will have correspondence from us. All of our exhibitors are being offered the opportunity to take credits and put those towards other shows, while we’re looking into a number of ways to add value for them –digitally as well– to try to help them stay connected with their customers,” says John Siefert.
