NASHVILLE (CelebrityAccess) — The International Entertainment Buyers Association, the trade organization for live entertainment industry professionals, announced that due to coronavirus, its 50th Annual Conference has gone by the boards for 2020.
The conference, which was set to take place in Nashville in October, has officially been called off, IEBA said.
“This was not an easy decision. However, due to the massive impact of COVID-19, we feel it is best to press pause this year and return stronger than ever in the fall of 2021,” said IEBA Chair Renee Alexander, Minnesota State Fair’s Deputy GM of Entertainment & Marketing.
“This is a time of huge loss. The global shutdown of concerts and live events is taking a devastating toll on our industry and is presenting the greatest set of challenges in IEBA’s 50-year history,” added IEBA Executive Director Pam Matthews. “We acknowledge the need to connect with each other now more than ever, and we are developing plans to ensure that our members will have an opportunity to do so this fall. Expect another announcement from us in the weeks to come.”
However, there’s some good news of IEBA fans, and the trade organization announced that the event has already been confirmed for a return in 2021 and will take place from October 3-5 at the Omni Hotel in Nashville.
As for this year’s canceled event, IEBA members will receive full instructions regarding the 2020 refund process in the very near future, the organization said.
