The world's only interactive outdoor lifestyle industry gathering will now take place September 15-17.
Denver, Colorado -- (For Immediate Release) Leveraging its inherent nimbleness, Thin Air is announcing a postponement of dates for its inaugural interactive digital event to make space for other voices that need to be heard right now. To ensure we do not take focus from long overdue conversations and efforts on the systemic racism and oppression of our Black friends, neighbours, and colleagues, we have decided to postpone Thin Air Show until September 15-17.
While an inclusive and accessible conference has been the priority since the beginning, we are formalizing our commitment to representative feedback through the addition of a DEI committee to guide the Thin Air experience.
The DEI committee, chaired by Amath Diouf, will consist of 7 to 9 stakeholders committed to ensuring a conference environment and experience that is welcoming, inclusive, and accessible. Every attendee -- regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or ability -- should feel comfortable walking the show floor.
"Diversifying the outdoors is going to take more than social media posts. It's a long term commitment that is going to take thinking, feeling, listening, and learning in order for outdoor enthusiasts of marginalized communities to trust the Outdoor Industry. The great outdoors are naturally inclusive. Let us mirror the beauty and benefit of the outdoors by making our outdoor community a truly family-centric community for Black people like myself, all POC, and LGBTQ+ outdoor enthusiasts," said Thin Air committee chair Amath Diouf, a North Carolina-based hiker and journalist covering access and diversity in the outdoors.
"As you know, we built the Thin Air Show not only because the industry needed a media show that inherently connects brands directly to consumers, but because a virtual show cannot be stopped by a global pandemic or anything else the world throws at us," said founder Erik Boles. "Anything but one thing: systemic racism and injustice against our friends, colleagues, partners, and fellow outsiders, which deserves our immediate attention and action to rectify."
The push to September not only means a better show, it means a bigger one. Thin Air will grow from 400 booths to 500. But the extra 100 booth opportunities will be donated to nonprofits and affinity groups who have been doing this work for a long time, and deserve to be seen and celebrated.
At the show, attendees will engage with brand representatives in the form of hyper-realistic avatars, experiencing product launches and learning about important trends and innovations while creating content in real time, driving millions of impressions.
//View the Thin Air Virtual Demo Here: thinairshow.com.
