{"id":244340,"date":"2020-02-08T01:05:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T06:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=244340"},"modified":"2020-02-12T00:48:21","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T05:48:21","slug":"no-handshakes-at-meet-and-greet-tech-show-adapts-to-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/02\/08\/no-handshakes-at-meet-and-greet-tech-show-adapts-to-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"No handshakes at meet and greet? Tech show adapts to virus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Organizers of this month’s Mobile World Congress show are advising attendees to adopt a no-handshake policy, threatening to dampen visiting executives’ ability to meet and schmooze customers. (Pixabay photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LONDON \u2014 A major European technology trade fair has a low-tech idea for reducing virus risks: go hands-free.<\/p>\n

Organizers of this month’s Mobile World Congress show are advising attendees to adopt a no-handshake policy, threatening to dampen visiting executives’ ability to meet and schmooze customers. Show organizers also plan to step up cleaning and disinfecting and make sure speakers don’t use the same microphone. Some companies, meanwhile, are pulling out or scaling back plans.<\/p>\n

MWC is an important networking and lobbying opportunity for mobile industry executives and government officials from around the world. It’s the world’s biggest wireless industry trade fair, held in Barcelona, Spain, on the other side of the globe from the virus outbreak’s Chinese epicenter.<\/p>\n

More than 100,000 people were expected to attend this year, with about 6% from China. The coronavirus has now infected more than 31,400 people globally and killed more than 630, most of them in China.<\/p>\n

The latest turmoil for MWC came Friday when Sweden’s Ericsson, a major supplier of telecom infrastructure gear, said it was pulling out of the Feb. 24-27 event because it feared the health and safety of employees and customers \u201ccannot be ensured.\u201d While there’s little sign of a mass exodus in the works, the departure of Ericsson is a blow to the show because it’s one of the biggest exhibitors.<\/p>\n

South Korean tech company LG also withdrew earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

Other companies are adjusting or scaling back their plans to adapt to travel and quarantine measures. The Chinese tech giant Huawei, a major sponsor, is assigning European staff to the show. Eric Xu, serving a six-month term as rotating chairman, is scheduled to hold a media briefing by video because he’s unable to get to Spain with enough time to undergo the two-week self-quarantine period.<\/p>\n

Jean-Baptiste Su, principal analyst at Atherton Research in San Jose, California, said he’s decided not to attend because of virus worries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just didn’t want to take a chance,\u201d he said. \u201c\u201dIt’s that bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Su said many participants were coming from China, and \u201cwe don’t know much about how the transmission of the virus works.\u201d He added that people he knows at big Silicon Valley companies are \u201con the fence\u201d about attending, and their employers say it’s OK if they don’t want to.<\/p>\n

Ericsson said it decided to withdraw after \u201can extensive internal risk assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEricsson has thousands of visitors in its hall each day and even if the risk is low, the company cannot guarantee the health and safety of its employees and visitors,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

Dropping out might affect Ericsson’s business, though the damage would be limited, said Richard Fogg, CEO of tech-focused public relations agency CCgroup who has attended Mobile World for 17 years.<\/p>\n

More important is the signal it sends.<\/p>\n

\u201cEricsson could be the start of a domino rally,\u201d Fogg said. \u201cIt gives smaller vendors permission to potentially pull from attending.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he said there was not much discussion among his clients yet of the virus. He said cost is also a factor because exhibitors have already paid their fees.<\/p>\n

The show’s organizers, GSMA, said it regretted and respected Ericsson’s decision to pull out.<\/p>\n

\u201cEricsson’s cancellation will have some impact on our presence at this time and will potentially have further impact,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

Organizers and local authorities have been scrambling to contain worries about the virus this week.<\/p>\n

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau said MWC will go ahead \u201cin a completely normal way\u201d despite the virus and cancellations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope there are no more announcements like those\u201d by Ericsson and LG,\u201d Colau told Catalan television channel TV3 on Friday. \u201cI am told that all necessary precautions are being taken\u201d so that the event can be held as safely as possible, she said.<\/p>\n

Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA, told The Associated Press on Wednesday, before Ericsson’s announcement, that he doesn’t \u201cforesee this (as) more than a sort of a blip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microsoft said its plans to participate remain unchanged \u2014 for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safety of our employees is a top priority and we will evaluate the situation and adjust plans as necessary,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

But LG said Tuesday that it was dropping out to remove \u201cthe risk of exposing hundreds of LG employees to international travel which has already become more restrictive as the virus continues to spread across borders.\u201d A day later, Chinese tech company ZTE said it was scrubbing the press launch for its new devices. ZTE also said it was adopting measures including disinfecting its exhibition stand daily and making sure it’s staffed by employees from countries outside China, mainly from Europe.<\/p>\n

Granryd said a few small Chinese companies based in Wuhan, China, where the virus first emerged, have also pulled out.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, and Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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