EXHIBITOR RESOURCES

Please visit the Visit Indy reopening guidelines for more information.  

Currently, Indianapolis restaurants and bars have 75% indoor capacity and 100% outdoor capacity. This applies to private rooms as well. Bars and restaurants must close between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. daily. 

Regardless of local guidelines, Emerald will require mandatory face mask wearing within the convention center at all times for CEDIA Expo (with the exception of when eating or drinking). 

Our total hotel block downtown is 4,700 rooms, with 3,100 within easy walking distance of the convention center. Indianapolis has a total of 7,100 hotel rooms downtown and more than 31,000 in the metro area. 

Indy is hosting March Madness and we expect to get more specifics after they stage and host these events. The city has safely hosted 58 live events since last July totaling 130,000 attendees. 

Yes, The Indiana Convention Center & Lucas Oil Stadium is now open for events that comply with their social distancing and safety standards and the guidance of the state and local health departments. 

The Indiana Convention Center has invested $7 million in health and safety improvements to their facility. These include: 

• Clorox® Total 360® Systems purchased to deliver superior coverage for better germ protection. 

• Air filters upgraded to hospital grade quality and operated 24/7 during events. 
• Plexiglass shields placed at all point-of-sale locations and information desks. 

GBAC STAR™ is the cleaning industry’s only outbreak prevention, response and recovery accreditation for facilities, and yes, the Indiana Convention Center is proud to have met this gold standard for preparedness.

Please review the CEDIA Expo Health & Safety Plan. Please be assured, we continue to work very closely with the Indiana Convention Center and following all the guidelines set forth by the CDC, state and local officials. As plans continue to evolve, we will update the plan accordingly.  

We as Emerald have not selected to give a capacity. Our guidance is for exhibitor personnel and attendees to social distance as much as possible.  

Yes, please view our Exhibitor Best Practices Guide. You will find a list of ideas, suggestions, and best practices to consider as you begin to design your booth space for CEDIA Expo. Please note these are suggestions and not official guidelines. 

We plan to offer and operate the Sound Rooms, Manufacturer Product Training (MPT) and High Performance Audio (HPA) rooms at the show. Exhibitors will be required to adhere to social distancing guidelines and approved room capacities. As of March 19, capacity per sound room is 6 people allowed in the room at one time (that is expected to increase or be lifted by show time). 

Yes, please view our Sound Room Best Practices Guide. You will find a list of ideas, suggestions, and best practices to consider as you begin to design your sound room for CEDIA Expo. Please note these are suggestions and not official guidelines. 

See above. Meeting rooms at the convention center and local hotels will have occupancy limits based on social distancing guidelines; limits will vary by room size and layout. 

Centerplate is the Indiana Convention Center’s official caterer who operates all food and beverage services throughout the facility. Centerplate has adopted health and safety procedures for their services including: point of sale barriers at all concession retail outlets, modified food and beverage service with adaptable menus, individually wrapped meals, grab and go items, modified buffet services, placement of hand sanitizer at the front of modified buffet lines, replacing bulk condiments with single-serve items, using covered dispensers for utensils and service ware, use of sealed containers and wrapped foods for retail and take-away, and fresh cups for refills.  Exhibitors are required to work directly with Centerplate to make arrangements for food and beverage services in their meeting rooms and exhibit spaces. 

If there are multiple exhibiting personnel in the booth, the Exhibitor will be instructed to clean their booth thoroughly at night. Emerald will assist with securing cleaning services for exhibitors, if necessary. If no other exhibitor personnel are on site to man the booth, Emerald’s show operations management staff will follow standard procedure pre-COVID (same as an attendee) – Emerald will instruct Shepard (the show’s general service contractor) to pack up the booth upon show close. If during the middle of the show, such booth will be packed up that night or the last day, upon show close. Emerald will pay for booth packing labor only. The exhibitor will be responsible for providing return shipping address and carrier information as well as payment for return shipping. Freight will be forced if shipper information is not provided. 

If an attendee is ill onsite with COVID symptoms, send them to the COVID medic for further assessment and counseling. We will not have medical treatment onsite for COVID-type illnesses. We will provide initial assessment and advise where to go to see further treatment. Show operations management staff will contact Emerald legal as well as and inform the venue to allow them to respond. 

Emerald, at this point, has not opted to have rapid testing on site at the show. 

We had 15,000+ attendees (including exhibitor personnel) at CEDIA Expo 2019. We don’t have a projected attendance for CEDIA Expo 2021. We are optimistic that with increasing vaccine distribution, reduction in the number of COVID cases and easing of travel restrictions, attendees will participate in the show. A current event industry survey by Freeman Research indicates that 78% of tradeshow attendees plan to return to events this fall and 85% say that in-person trade events are irreplaceable. That being said, we believe there is a pent-up demand to return to in-person events and we are looking forward to a solid turnout at the show this September. 

In addition to our traditional show promotional efforts for CEDIA Expo (email blasts, social media, press releases and exhibitors’ expo attendee invites), we are expanding our efforts with CEDIA and the industry’s buyers’ groups (Azione, HTSA, HTSN/Nationwide, and Prosource) to encourage their members to attend the show. We are also working closer with our Connect Brands’ CEPro, Commercial Integrator and Security Sales Integration magazines on pre-show editorial coverage, podcasts and webinars that will highlight show themes and programming.

Additionally, we are also making plans to extend the show’s reach with cross promotions to other Emerald managed events in the design, hospitality, and construction markets – HD Expo, ICFF and KBIS – in order to attract more designers, architects and home builders to CEDIA Expo.

Yes, exhibitors will receive exhibitor invitation promo codes to send to their customers and prospects providing free expo hall access (not including CEDIA education sessions) along with a variety of marketing tools to assist in your promotions.