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

February 25, 2014 by Dave Haynes

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.