InfoComm ’02 Attendance Strong
Sep 1, 2002 12:00 PM
InfoComm ’02, which was held in Las Vegas June 12 through 14, had a record number of exhibiting companies and new products, according to ICIA officials. Attendance at the show was up in many categories, but down in others. Overall attendance for 2002 was at 20,260, which is about 1,200 fewer exhibitor personnel and about 800 fewer attendees than the 2001 show. The overall number of exhibiting companies (539) was up over the prior year’s show total (516) by 4.5 percent. The ICIA attributes the drop in exhibitor personnel in 2002 to a tough economy.
Total paid exhibit space at InfoComm ’02 was 274,050 net square feet, down 6.4 percent from 2001’s 292,880 figure. The downsizing stemmed mainly from a few larger exhibitors cutting costs owing to budget reasons.
End-user attendance was up 10.3 percent in 2002 and reflects InfoComm’s strategy of bringing high-quality end-users (almost all of whom are providers of A/V technology in their companies or organizations) to the show along with systems integrators, dealers, independent representatives, rental and staging companies, and independent consultants. In response to exhibitor requests, InfoComm made an effort to reach out to end-users in business and industry, education, government, the military, entertainment, and the worship sector. Those people are involved in purchasing A/V equipment or maintaining it, and many of them were likely first-time visitors.
More than 32 percent of attendees reported that they plan to purchase more than $5 million in A/V technology in the next year, and more than 50 percent said they planned to spend more than $1 million. In addition, the average number of leads collected per exhibitor was 273, with some exhibitors getting more than 2,000 quality leads.
Education at InfoComm saw record levels of participation. InfoComm launched product-specific manufacturers’ training, a two-day business-management course, and a presentations professionals conference (T3), and it hosted the premiere Projection Industry Summit Conference in addition to ICIA’s seminars and workshops.
Nearly 8,000 registrations were taken for the combined 200-plus events from approximately 3,000 attendees.
