CardLinx Postpones Asia Forum To September

February 27, 2020         By: Steven Anderson

Sometimes it’s a good plan to err on the side of caution. While sometimes, it ends up making a lot of extra work that goes nowhere, it can also be a great way to have all your bases covered and end up not missing a trick that makes for a better overall outcome. The folks at CardLinx recently tipped us off about one move that’s likely to be an excess of caution: they’ve moved the date of the CardLinx Asia forum from March 10 to September 1.

The word from CardLinx said that the forum date was moved after “careful consideration and consultation with our Japan-based members.” Since the forum was to be located in Tokyo, getting the input of Japan-based attendees and exhibitors and the like was likely the plan to take. The group further noted that the decision was not made “lightly,” and was done “to avoid risks for our members and staff…consistent with the decisions of other global trade organizations.”

Yes, CardLinx isn’t the first operation to shut down a multinational mobile-based event in recent memory; the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona was also shut down for the first time in its history. Though there’s a critical difference between the two, as the Mobile World Congress event wasn’t rescheduled, but rather shut down for the year altogether, with little chance of a new date coming into play.

Again, this might be simply an excess of caution, but then again, the notion of events to promote anything has been falling by the wayside somewhat in recent years anyway. A mobile payments-related show could still comfortably show off any advances it might have made for soon release via website, video, or any of a dozen other possibilities. Shows still have a place for networking and the like, but even that may be faltering as we’ve seen previously with shows like E3.

Some may call this an excess of caution, all right, but the fact remains: CardLinx’s show is out of action for now. Though it should be back online around Labor Day—which may actually give it a hand in drawing extra attendees from the US—it may not be, and it will have to be watched to find that possible outcome.