DSE East getting lukewarm vendor interest

August 13, 2008 by Dave Haynes

Digital Signage Today has a piece up about the looming Digital Signage Expo East show in Philadelphia, which goes off in mid-September.

It confirms a couple of things, notably that the thing is still going to happen and also that it will be massively scaled back from the Las Vegas version it is building off.

This one will have about three dozen exhibitors, some with a presence that’s been scaled back because of the lukewarm industry interest. I know one company, really well, that has decided to skip the BIG cost of a booth and is just doing meeting rooms. I suspect it is not alone.

Here’s who is set to be there:

The idea of the show was to get it located in the US northeast and easily available on day-trips for people who don’t get excited aboutVegas trips that tend to kill entire work weeks one way or another.

Unfortunately, the first kick at it comes in the midst of a very wobbly economy and much tighter reins on budgets. That and the feeling out there, at least in some circles, that one of these a year is enough. It comes just three months or so after InfoComm, and there are other, more vertically-focused shows coming up this fall, as well.

Organizer Chris Gibbs is understandably spin-doctoring the situation into a positive.

“With a smaller exhibit hall, there is less competition amongst exhibitors to see attendees,” Gibbs said. “The larger the floor, the more the attendees are spread out. Between the small floor and the day-long education session on the floor itself, it keeps the attendees focused on the exhibits and technology.”