DSE East tally: 900 people

October 1, 2008 by Dave Haynes

Pro AV Online has a quick little round-up about that Digital Signage Expo East show in Philly a couple of weeks ago, with the organizers suggesting there were 900 attendees and that poeple were happy as clams about how it all shook out.

Digital Signage Expo East (DSE East) and Interactive Technology Expo East (ITEE), regional versions of the international Digital Signage Expo and Interactive Technology Expo, announced that attendees to the recent show in Philadelphia exceeded 900 people.

Organizers said the new event attracted a more regional audience of end-users and brand and advertising executives who don’t want to–or don’t have it in their budget to–travel to the annual Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas.

“The show exceeded everyone’s expectations,” said Chris Gibbs, executive vice president of Exponation, which owns and produces the event. “Exhibitors reported high levels of satisfaction with the quality and the quantity of the event’s attendees, as well as the new educational features.”

Next year the DSE East shows moves to the nation’s capital. Exhibit space for the event, to be held September 23-24, 2009 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., is on sale now. 

I heard everything from 1,100 to 3,000 attendees from people I chatted with at the show, but sub-1,000 is definitely more realistic. I’d think more like 500 if you nip out the vendors, and 400 or less if you nip out the vendors who didn’t have a booth but were down there hunting around for opportunities. I watched a really senior guy spend acres of time with a prospect who was about as warm a lead as a corpse … but a going-nowehere chat was at least something to do on a dreadfully slow Day 2. 

To be fair, it was first year, the event seemed very well run as always, the venue was great, there were lots of sessions and good presenters, and stuff like the lunchbox roundtables seemed really well subscribed. And a big cross-section of the crowd was from along the eastern seaboard and clearly drove in and out for a day – people who may well not have the time or budget to take 3-4 days in Lost Wages.

But as mentioned ahead of the event, there’s an awful lot of them now – one next week in New York and another the following, also in New York. Hopefully by next September, the somewhat dark clouds over the economy will have largely cleared off. Never been to DC.