With Imaging USA 2022 happening in-person, has COVID-19 fallen on deaf ears?

The Professional Photographers of America (PPA) announced Thursday that plans to host Imaging USA in-person beginning next week are still on as scheduled. This really frustrated me, as I’m very COVID-aware and do not think that large events — especially those without vaccine requirements — should be happening indoors right now.

COVID-19 cases have been increasing more than they ever have. We’re setting new records. Hospitals are completely overrun. And Maryland — which is now in a state of emergency — will be host to the Imaging USA conference. The state saw over 12,000 new COVID-19 cases alone on Wednesday.

I had the chance to sit down with David Trust, chief executive officer of the PPA, following the organization’s announcement. He let me in on some of the thinking behind the decision, and what they’re doing to ease safety concerns.

What the PPA is doing

First, here’s what Imaging USA attendees can expect. According to Trust, chairs have been spaced out and removed from rooms. And rooms will also be sanitized after each session by hotel staff. There will also be non-distanced sections with chairs closer together, for those that feel comfortable interacting at a closer distance.

The conference is following all CDC guidelines, and is recommending that attendees take a COVID-19 test before traveling. There’s a mask mandate in place in Virginia that will also be followed.

Attendees will also get to choose from a sticker on their badge — red, yellow or green — for how comfortable they are in terms of getting close to people, shaking hands, etc. Red means no contact, yellow means they want to be friendly, but keep their distance and green means they’re open to shaking hands and being approached by others.

Parties — which the PPA is known for — will not include dancing. There will be more tables with less chairs. There will also be “quiet areas,” where a person or small group can get dinner and engage away from the rest of the party.

Sanitation stations will also be placed throughout the event, with staff reminding to sanitize. Utensils will be individually wrapped, and areas where there are lines will be sanitized every 10 minutes.

What it should add

So it seems like the PPA is doing a lot. However, there’s two big things they aren’t doing. For one, they aren’t requiring vaccinations or even a negative test before entering the conference. Secondly, there was no mention of further spacing out booths to make it easier to keep your distance from people. Expo floors can be very busy, especially during demonstrations.

The PPA also isn’t supplying the more effective KN95/N95 masks to participants. These have become more easy to come by, so if you are attending COVID-19 or any large-scale event, I’d highly recommend you to pick up a few.

I spoke to our publisher, Rich Harrington, about his recent trip to CES and Berlin Photo Week. At CES, they required vaccines, and also gave each attendee an at-home test (with two tests inside). The conference also gave the option to get a PCR test concluding the conference, before attendees went home. I’d strongly encourage the PPA to at least give out tests or offer some type of on-site testing availability.

At Berlin Photo Week, much of the event was held outdoors. While that may be unrealistic during a Maryland winter, it’s something to consider down the road. Choose a warmer climate or elect to hold Imaging USA during the summer months. It’ll make the conference more unique, and should actually draw in a larger crowd.

The PPA had several options; it chose the worst one

The PPA — and any event organizer — is obviously in a tough spot. But there were a few options when it came to Imaging USA. The one they chose, obviously, was to continue on with the conference as planned. But the other two options would have been much safer for their members, which they say they care deeply about.

First, it could have been postponed. I experienced this first-hand with WPPI in 2021, which was moved from the winter to August. I felt extremely safe at WPPI when it was moved, as the numbers weren’t anywhere near as high as they are now. The trade show was also very spread out, allowing you to go from booth-to-booth without much worry about being in close quarters (with a few exceptions).

According to Trust, postponement was off the table due to the fact that it “effects all the calendar events throughout the rest of the year.” I can respect that. Postponing definitely can cause more headaches not only for the conference staff, but also for vendors, attendees and other stakeholders.

Secondly, they could have gone virtual. Many conferences have pulled this off to great success, including Adobe MAX. This actually allows the PPA to reach a larger audience, without the safety concerns, and could actually help them grow their numbers significantly. Sony has also had a few online conferences now, and the technology they use allows participants to chat with each other and with vendors to ask questions. It’s the conference experience from afar, and it’s very well done.

All this said, there’s several things that go into a conference, and changing one that’s already planned. The PPA has to think about things like existing contracts, insurance, etc. Without a public health order to tell them what to do, it’s hard to move or cancel an event, as they risk losing quite lot themselves. Despite this, Trust stated that canceling the conference “would have been easier” and would have actually saved the PPA money. So then why didn’t they do this?

“We are very Covid-conscious as an organization,” said Trust. “We had a meeting with our board. The bottom line is we have well over 5000 people who want this show to happen. They need it for their business; photographers need to be setting the stage to bounce back in every way. Our feeling was, we’re gonna do the show for them. If they don’t want to be there, great. If they do, great. Business is moving forward, and they need to be ready.”

The difficult part for PPA now is that there’s a precedent in place for canceling due to the Omicron variant. E3 — the video gaming conference — announced Thursday that it would shift to an online-only event. And that’s a much larger conference that’s several months away. Additionally, there’s been a ton of criticism thrown at CES despite their best efforts to make it a safe, successful conference.

Trade shows are a dying breed, and the PPA (and others) needs to adapt

Beyond just COVID-19, if conferences are going to survive — which I have doubts about — they need to change their model. Stop cramming people inside hotel venues. Instead, make them a destination outdoors, and offer a hybrid model. Make them unique and something that will actually make people want to attend!

By doing the same old thing with Imaging USA, and not putting public health above every other decision, the PPA shows how little it actually values its members. Personally, I’ve become less and less impressed with the PPA over time — especially with its insurance offerings. With the association’s decision to hold Imaging USA in-person this year, it confirms my decision to let my membership lapse. And based on my discussions with others, I’m not the only one thinking along those lines.

What I hope for

There’s still time for Imaging USA to be canceled this year. I don’t think that’ll happen, but Trust said it best: “Who knows what’s going to happen between now and next Thursday [when the pre-conference starts]. Nothing’s off the table in terms of what could happen, but something would more than likely need to be mandated.”

When planning for Imaging USA 2023 starts to happen, I hope Trust and his team will look at what they could turn Imaging USA into — an experience unlike any other photography conference out there. Take it outside, offer photography experiences like no other conference has. That’ll not only help it during public health crises — it’ll help the conference grow and stay relevant and exciting for time to come.

Let me be clear when I say this. I wish nothing but the best for Imaging USA. And I’m all in favor of pushing ahead and living our lives. But personally, I think it’s irresponsible for the conference to be held in-person at this time, and that the organization isn’t truly thinking about what’s best for its members.

Update, January 11, 2022: 27 vendors pull out of Imaging USA

As we’ve watched this situation developed, we’ve paid close attention to the exhibitor list for Imaging USA. Since we initially looked at the exhibitor list for Imaging USA (which had 113 vendors in mid-December), there have been 27 vendors who have pulled out as of this morning. Now absent from the list are Canon, Tamron, Sigma and several others. There are no camera manufacturers slated to exhibit at the show, and only one lens manufacturer — Zeiss Lenses.

Finally, after we published this article, we ran two polls (one on this article, one on the Photofocus Community) about whether our audience feels safe attending conferences right now. 57% of respondents were not comfortable attending conferences like Imaging USA at this time, with 17% of respondents being unsure. 26% of respondents were absolutely positive they’d feel comfortable attending a conference at this time.