At the time of this writing in early June, we here at Quirk’s have just made the transition back to the office after nearly 15 months away. While I’ll miss many aspects of working from home, the fact that we are back in the office is a sign that things are slowly getting back to normal. There’s still a long way to go in terms of vaccinations and herd immunity but each day it feels like in-person interaction is less and less fraught – which has me excited for the return of in-person Quirk’s Events.
We were perhaps a bit too optimistic and ambitious when we first announced that our 2021 slate of events in London, New York and Chicago would mark a return to in-person gatherings. Indeed, earlier this year we rescheduled the London event from July to October when it became clear that a summer meeting wasn’t in the cards.
But from where we now sit, it appears the world will be ready in the fall. Along with large-scale conventions and business gatherings, concert tours and other cultural events are starting to creep back into our schedules, with late summer and early autumn looking wonderfully busy.
With that as a preamble, here’s an update on our plans for the 2021 Quirk’s Events (www.thequirksevent.com). (Rest assured that all safety precautions will be observed and the events will follow local- and facility-imposed procedures and practices related to COVID-19.)
Chicago (September 30-October 1): Our inaugural 2019 Chicago event drew over 1,300 attendees and our 2020 event had over 1,500 registrations before it was cancelled due to COVID-19. We expect at minimum 600 registrations this year but are shooting for between 750 and 1,000. It is possible, however, that due to pent-up demand and a new, more central downtown Chicago location (Hyatt Regency Chicago), we could match or exceed our earlier numbers. Data from the first year in Chicago indicated that about 60% of our attendees were from the Chicag...