The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has just released “2020 Third Quarter Results,” as reported in Exhibit City News.

Exhibition Industry Remains at a Standstill

The … exhibition industry remained at a grinding halt in the third quarter of 2020, with approximately 97 percent of originally scheduled events cancelled. As a result, the CEIR Total Index, a measure of exhibition industry performance, registered a 98.1 percent decline from a year ago ….

Despite the economic rebound enjoyed in the third quarter, the exhibition industry remained largely stalled given the persistence of COVID-19. A second wave of the virus in July prompted a number of states to pull back on reopening their economies and impose stringent group size limitations, all contributing to a lack of trade show activity.

About 3 percent of events did take place as mostly small, regional events.

The continuance of stringent rules imposed by states and municipalities, as well as ongoing no travel corporate policies, caused most events scheduled for the third quarter to be canceled or postponed to 2021 ….