Georgia Foley declared “it’s all systems go” for the November 8-10, 2020, Speciality Tools & Fasteners Distributors Association convention.

STAFDA CEO Foley had just spoken with the Anaheim Convention Center and said there are still some TBDs “about any restrictions (if any) coming down the pike for future conventions this year, but for now, none were anticipated.”  

“Most convention centers have hand sanitizing stations, but I expect to see more of them,” Foley observed.

STAFDA regularly draws more than two thousand participants.

At the 44th annual trade show, Foley suggested STAFDA members “will need a ‘socially-distanced group hug’.”

“I think the litmus test for how large group gatherings will be handled is to watch the Democratic and Republican Conventions, both in August,” Foley suggested.

Foley predicts that with the November 3rd presidential election “things will be back to quasi-normal by the fall.”  

Economist Alan Beaulieu in a National Association of Wholesalers webinar last week predicted a “sharp ‘V’ recovery in Q3, not a ‘U’ shaped one,” Foley reported.  

There will be “some jockeying around when states reopen, but things will sort themselves out very quickly,” Foley predicted. “I don’t think it’ll be long for America to hit its stride again!”

She expects some travel restrictions through the end of the year on visitors from Europe and China.

Foley has surveyed STAFDA members and “despite today’s hardships,” respondents were “filled with positivity and hope.”

 

UPCOMING TRADE SHOWS

  • So far the Mid-West Fastener Association has its 39th Chicago-area fastener show still scheduled for June 16, 2020, in Elk Grove Village, IL.  MWFA’s 68th annual golf outing remains the following day, June 17.

Executive director Nancy Rich said she expects to make a decision on the scheduling within a week based on the Illinois governor’s decisions and what options are offered. 

  • The third Fastener Fair USA was postponed from May to July 13-15, 2020, in Charlotte.
  • The 75th National Hardware Show was postponed from May to September 1-3 in Las Vegas.
  • The annual International Fastener Expo, first held in 1981 and in Las Vegas since 1997, remains as originally scheduled September 28-30 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
  • The sixth biennial Taiwan International Fastener Show in Kaohsiung was moved from April to October 14-16.
  • STAFDA remains November 8-11 in Anaheim.
  • Wire Düsseldorf in Germany was delayed from March to December 7-11.
  • The biennial International Hardware Fair in Koln (Cologne), Germany was postponed from April 2020 to February 21-24, 2021.