DSE 2014 Counts 4,003 Through Doors, Down Slightly From 2013

February 25, 2014 by Dave Haynes

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Exactly 4,003 people wandered down the long Sands Expo hallway and through the doors into Digital Signage Expo 2014.

The trade show’s organizers released the final numbers today, which included a breakdown of 42% end-users, aka potential buyers. There were another 1,813 poor souls chained for two days to booths on the show floor, bringing total attendance to over 5,800.

Of that combined total, 29.85%, or 1,195 traveled to DSE from outside the US, attracting total attendance from 67 different countries including: Canada, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, Columbia, China, the United Kingdom, Australia and Taiwan. A LOT of those would be Canadians, but there was, I heard, a big crowd from Brazil.

There were 200-plus exhibitors and just over 70,000 net square feet, an increase of 13% over 2013.

The DSE folks say the numbers were affected by snow and ice out east two weeks ago, with three airports shut down and some 4,000 flights cancelled. A lot of people never got to DSE.

Last year, the show had 4,080 official attendees, and the organizers said in the 2013 post-mortem that those numbers were also affected by weather and cancelled fights. I can’t remember what it was like 12 months ago, but think this year was a lot worse. I know two years ago it was high winds that delayed people getting in. I am just bliss-filled that I’ve dodged delays and cancellations, so far, in my travels this winter.

The show starts a full month later next year, March 10-12 back at the sprawling LVCC, which should be late enough in winter to at least keep the snow and ice away from busy airline hubs like Atlanta.

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