New Hope Answers Expo East Questions on Safety, Attendance Levels

As questions over safety and buyer attendance continue to linger less than a month before the event begins, media platform and event producer New Hope hosted a virtual Q&A session today to address concerns regarding its upcoming Natural Products Expo East trade show.

With the event scheduled to be held in Philadelphia from September 22-25, New Hope has increasingly been subject to calls from some members of the food, beverage and greater health and wellness industry to provide details surrounding protective health measures and attendance levels at the show.

Taking part in the webinar was Carlotta Mast, SVP and market leader for New Hope; Lacey Gautier, group show director for New Hope Media; Elliot Howell, New Hope VP of Sales; and John Cordier, the CEO of Epistemix, a technology company New Hope is working with to determine safety practices. New Hope also this morning posted to its website more details about its safety protocols for the show — which include requiring proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test and, in accordance with regulations by the city of Philadelphia, masking when not eating or drinking.

As the first speaker of the session, Cordier reiterated that events that require both proof of vaccination and mask wearing are ultimately safer to attend than going to the grocery store.

He added that moving the event to later in the year would not be wise, as he forecasts case numbers are expected to rise. Meanwhile, he said, the event industry is also in a different place now than it was in March 2020, with a clearer picture of appropriate safety measures.

“We’re working with public health officials and regulators to use this type of data to ensure that with these protocols in place, events are able to happen safely,” Cordier said. “Local government or state government [officials], they want to see these events happen for the economic benefit.”

Asked if the event could still be cancelled, Mast indicated that New Hope had no desire to do so, but said that there could be unforeseen circumstances that still arise. Currently, New Hope said it has registered roughly 11,000 attendees for the show, which attracted roughly 30,000 attendees during its most recent edition in 2019.

There are currently 1,000 registered exhibitors, Mast said, with only two out of every ten exhibitors cancelling in the last few weeks.

“We know that attending an in person event right now is not the right thing for everyone in our community. And we absolutely respect that,” Mast said “But while we know that this isn’t going to be right for everyone, we also know that many people in the community have done their own risk benefit analysis.”

Beyond safety protocols, the amount of retail buyers at the show has also been a topic of concern for exhibitors. However, Mast promised there would be plenty of buyers in attendance. Though some major retailers, including Target, have travel restrictions in place, she said others, such as Rite Aid, have been “vocal” about their intentions to attend. Meanwhile, retailers like Sprouts are simply sending smaller teams to Philadelphia. New Hope has continued to book hotel rooms for its hosted buyers, she added, but could not provide an exact count of how many will be in attendance.

If brands do not feel comfortable attending, she said, the virtual Expo East platform is another way to take part in the show. Exhibitors that choose to cancel their booths can work with their New Hope account manager to reallocate those funds towards other New Hope media opportunities and events, such as the virtual event platform, Howell noted.

“We understand and respect people’s decisions to not attend or to not participate for whatever the reason may be…we’re in this for the long haul,” Howell said. “We’ve been serving this industry for 40 years and we want to continue to service and support this industry for 40 more years. And what’s going to allow us to do that is by approaching those cancellations from a perspective of partnership.”

Also responding to attendee concerns, New Hope has adjusted its previously announced policy of no longer offering attendees badges and lanyards. Due to the feedback that, coupled with masks, a lack of badges would impede communications between attendees and exhibitors, New Hope will now offer “optional” badge kiosks where attendees can print badges if they so desire. Still, Gautier said, her feedback is for attendees to instead “treat all participants as if they’re a buyer.”

Finally, regarding testing or vaccination status, New Hope disclosed that they will not be implementing any specific technical verification systems, but rather will ask attendees and exhibitors to show a physical or digital copy of their vaccination card or proof of their negative test result, dated and time-stamped.

Attendees must have completed their entire vaccination schedule, and international vaccines will be accepted as long as they are approved by the attendee’s country of residence and the World Health Organization. Proof of a negative test must be from the past 72 hours. Any viral test (NAAT or antigen) will be sufficient, and both PCR or rapid antigen tests will be accepted with the exception that home tests must include a link to results on an accredited medical platform. Testing will not be provided on site.

Once proof of vaccine or negative test has been demonstrated, attendees will receive a color coded wristband. The colors will indicate if the person is an exhibitor, attendee or staff but will not indicate vaccination status.