RMAF 2021 Cancelled today!
- Thread starter Elliot G.
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Official Announcement:
“A year and a half ago, our hearts were aching as we made the hard decision to cancel our 2020 show. Back then, we somehow imagined that as a country, we could band together and transcend COVID-19, and our lives could return to normal. We hoped we could ride out a year in isolation and emerge healthy and ready to gather again. Here at RMAF, we spent the year improving our business by producing new room layouts with all the outlets marked, and created a handbook to guide exhibitors as they learned yet again to navigate their exhibitor accounts. We imagined ourselves enthusiastically greeting our audio industry friends in a few weeks, and we’ve held onto that dream in spite of our nervous fears and scary news reports.
Even though some parts of the United States are fully open, the number of people contracting the virus, and the number of deaths attributed to it are still rising, and the CDC is projecting an even more deadly Lambda wave this fall. We are frightened on behalf of our friends in the audio industry on many levels. The very worst thing that we can envision is for someone to fall ill because they came to our show, whether as an exhibitor, a journalist, an attendee, or a volunteer. Good health is a precious gift, and we are learning that although recovery is possible, the residual effects of COVID-19 and its variants can be profound, and we are unwilling to risk even one case. Up until now, we have held onto the possibility that our October show could be produced as planned. After reading and listening to the news concerning the Coronavirus pandemic, and watching the cancellation of numerous other shows, we no longer hold that hope. In spite of our initial optimism, we have read and listened to all of your thoughtful comments and then looked at the numbers and made the difficult decision to cancel RMAF 2021.
As is our policy, RMAF will be issuing refunds to those exhibitors who have made payments for their rooms. We understand that in times such as these, finances can be a delicate balance, so you may expect to see your refund within the next 7 to 10 business days.
This has been a wrenching decision, and along with it comes the added impact of deciding that we are no longer able to envision RMAF as our hearts delight. RMAF was our founder Al Stiefel’s dream, and we’ve done our best to nurture his vision for 12 years, along with help from the Colorado Audio Society and all our volunteers from around the world. Now, we are off to new adventures! And so it is with both sadness and anticipation for the future, we announce that the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest as we have all known it will be no more. It has been our very great pleasure to have served this community of audio professionals. We have learned so much from you! Thank you for 17 years of friendship and support. It has meant more than you can possibly imagine.
We offer you our heartiest wishes for good health and great happiness.
Your Friends,
Marjorie and Marcie
Marjorie Baumert and Marcie Miller
Rocky Mountain International Audio Fest
October 8-10, 2021
“A year and a half ago, our hearts were aching as we made the hard decision to cancel our 2020 show. Back then, we somehow imagined that as a country, we could band together and transcend COVID-19, and our lives could return to normal. We hoped we could ride out a year in isolation and emerge healthy and ready to gather again. Here at RMAF, we spent the year improving our business by producing new room layouts with all the outlets marked, and created a handbook to guide exhibitors as they learned yet again to navigate their exhibitor accounts. We imagined ourselves enthusiastically greeting our audio industry friends in a few weeks, and we’ve held onto that dream in spite of our nervous fears and scary news reports.
Even though some parts of the United States are fully open, the number of people contracting the virus, and the number of deaths attributed to it are still rising, and the CDC is projecting an even more deadly Lambda wave this fall. We are frightened on behalf of our friends in the audio industry on many levels. The very worst thing that we can envision is for someone to fall ill because they came to our show, whether as an exhibitor, a journalist, an attendee, or a volunteer. Good health is a precious gift, and we are learning that although recovery is possible, the residual effects of COVID-19 and its variants can be profound, and we are unwilling to risk even one case. Up until now, we have held onto the possibility that our October show could be produced as planned. After reading and listening to the news concerning the Coronavirus pandemic, and watching the cancellation of numerous other shows, we no longer hold that hope. In spite of our initial optimism, we have read and listened to all of your thoughtful comments and then looked at the numbers and made the difficult decision to cancel RMAF 2021.
As is our policy, RMAF will be issuing refunds to those exhibitors who have made payments for their rooms. We understand that in times such as these, finances can be a delicate balance, so you may expect to see your refund within the next 7 to 10 business days.
This has been a wrenching decision, and along with it comes the added impact of deciding that we are no longer able to envision RMAF as our hearts delight. RMAF was our founder Al Stiefel’s dream, and we’ve done our best to nurture his vision for 12 years, along with help from the Colorado Audio Society and all our volunteers from around the world. Now, we are off to new adventures! And so it is with both sadness and anticipation for the future, we announce that the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest as we have all known it will be no more. It has been our very great pleasure to have served this community of audio professionals. We have learned so much from you! Thank you for 17 years of friendship and support. It has meant more than you can possibly imagine.
We offer you our heartiest wishes for good health and great happiness.
Your Friends,
Marjorie and Marcie
Marjorie Baumert and Marcie Miller
Rocky Mountain International Audio Fest
October 8-10, 2021
Crap!
What does "we announce that the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest as we have all known it will be no more" mean? Will there be a different sponsor, or will there be no more RMAFs in the future?
RMAF has always been my favorite show, and every year I used the long weekend trip to explore more of the beauty Colorado has to offer (mountain biking, hiking, ATVs).
What does "we announce that the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest as we have all known it will be no more" mean? Will there be a different sponsor, or will there be no more RMAFs in the future?
RMAF has always been my favorite show, and every year I used the long weekend trip to explore more of the beauty Colorado has to offer (mountain biking, hiking, ATVs).
Thanks for the news, but I am sorry to hear it. I've been to most RMAF shows, I've shown my products at two RMAF shows, and I've met some great people at RMAF. I sincerely hope RMAF can somehow continue...
The new Gaylord Hotel venue was also great, it was a massive improvement that allowed vendors to show in much better rooms, I really enjoyed RMAF 2019.
This is really sad news. We need audio shows imo, they have been great for our hobby and are one of the main ways smaller audio companies can get some exposure. They allow us to meet fellow audio enthusiasts and many times allow us to meet the actual designers and/or company owners of the gear we own.
This may have been the right call, it's hard to say. One thing I will say that I've learned recently from a local ER nurse, is Delta can spread so easily you can get it from contact with your eyes. This is worth keeping in mind if you're in a high risk group. I hope we can find a solution to this soon, in the meantime I hope everyone stays healthy and happy!
I think it's just too difficult to do all the planning, reserve the hotel space, take vendor payments and probably spend a lot of cash in preparation for an event that has a high likelihood of being canceled.
If you're in CO and want to go mt biking let me know though!
I got this news this morning. While it was the right move to make, its awful to see RMAF go away. Especially at the Mariott, the low cost of the show allowed a lot of smaller manufacturers that you never saw at CES show up. Some had some really interesting stuff! Marjorie was always a Class Act too- IMO this was one of the best managed shows and she was why. Having had AXPONA go back on their word (resulting in the loss of a larger room we had there from its inception) I've really come to appreciate having someone like Marjorie in the mix.
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