ISE Says 700+ Exhibitors Taking Stands in Early February, So Far, Inc. “Bellwether” Tech Brands

November 12, 2021 by Dave Haynes

An encouraging note about things returning to business norms – Integrated Systems Europe reports more than 700 exhibitors set to show their pots and pans in Barcelona in less than three months.

“It is very heartening to see that globally, events and exhibitions are returning to strength,” says Mike Blackman, Managing Director of Integrated Systems Events, the company that puts on the event for its trade association owners, CEDIA and AVIXA. “We are delighted that we already have 700+ exhibitors confirming their presence at ISE 2022 and we expect more to confirm in the coming days. With a vibrant thought leadership content programme and inspiring show floor, we are very much looking forward to getting back to business in Barcelona in February next year.”

The show says those set to put up stands include “bellwether brands” like Barco, Crestron, KNX, Kramer, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony. The show floor has been redesigned and will also have a brand-new Discovery Zone, highlighting 40 new companies exhibiting for the first time.

The ISE people are saying there will be six technology zones across the new venue – the Fira de Barcelona Gran Vía:

• NEW: Unified Comms & Education Technology (Hall 2) – newly combined zones
• NEW: Residential & Smart Building (Hall 2) – newly combined zones
• Multi-Technology Zone (Halls 3 and 5)
• Digital Signage & DooH (Hall 6)
• Audio (Hall 7)
• NEW: Lighting & Staging (Hall 7) – featuring special Lighting Demo Zone

As with the Digital Signage hall that was at the old venue in Amsterdam, it’s where attendees with find the software companies and smaller, in some cases niche-focused LED display manufacturers. The big display companies like Samsung, Sony and LG are in other halls, as their products involve many more use-cases than just signage and advertising.

ISE hosted about 950 exhibitors in Feb. 2020, JUST as COVID-19 started being the central focus of daily conversation. A year earlier – the last ISE in “normal” times – the show had around 1,300 exhibitors. So at 700-plus, it’s a nice, big contingent that will likely grow as exhibitor confidence improves, but it’s not likely to get near that 1,300 number.

One encouraging thing is that the COVID situation in Spain is relatively good, with 89% of the 12+ population fully vaxxed. Case counts are low, but ticking up. Who know what things will be like by the early new year, but hopefully nothing that would force yet another industry event to shrink or reconsider.

I’m going. Rooms booked and looking at flights today. But also buying cancellation insurance, JUST in case.