InfoComm drew big crowds

June 23, 2008 by Dave Haynes

InfoComm International says its big AV trade show last week in Las vegas was a resounding success, at least in terms of numbers of bodies.

Reflecting strong demand for AV communications technologies in business, education and government as well as the retail, healthcare, entertainment, worship markets, attendance at the exhibition so far has topped 34,600. AV professionals from 93 countries attended to see the latest technologies in display, projection, audio, collaborative conferencing, control and networking applications. This reflects a 9.5 percent increase over last year’s record attendance, according to a press release.

A record 988 exhibitors participated at InfoComm this year, representing more than a 15 percent increase over the previous record of 855 in 2007. Exhibitors occupied more than 500,000 net square feet of exhibit and special events space, compared to 465,000 net square feet in 2007. There are 231 new exhibitors at this year’s show.

My own observations are less than scientific, but I can say it was reasonably busy on the show floor, though nothing like the torrent of activity we saw at the DSE show a few months earlier. The walk-up crowd was mostly the AV reseller crowd that was expected.

There were many more DS companies than last year, with most of the major players there in some capacity. I bumped into two or three companies I had never even heard of, though they have been active in the space for a whole and more focused on corporate work. The big panel guys, particularly Samsung and LG, were much more focused on the DS space than I have seen in the past, and the other guys like Sharp and Sony were peddling combo software-player-panel solutions, though fairly quietly.

So, a very different show from DSE — which I have half-joked feels more like a Rotary Club international convention  than a  trade show, with so many people there already knowing each other and  sizing each other up.

For those wondering if they still have functioning livers or money in their bank accounts, you may be pleased to hear the show next year switches from Las Vegas to Orlando. Fewer vices, but the theme parks and high-end golf courses will happily take all of your money.

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