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SHOW AND TELL
Listed under: Show News
Published: Thursday, August 04, 2011
As I sat on the DLR on the Thursday afternoon, post-show, I considered myself one of the lucky ones. I had found my four days in and around the ExCeL Centre exhausting and the mere thought of spending the next few hours dismantling a stand made me shudder. I also felt lucky, however, because of the personal experience I’d gained from the show and perceptible benefits I had garnered from my time in the midst of the biggest names in the industry.
Trade shows are a brilliant way to get to know an industry better and I had previously been indoctrinated into the AV community at this year’s Sound & Vision – The Bristol Show as my first duty within my new role with SVI. The prospect of an intense and immersive show environment had daunted me at first but in hindsight I realise it was the best way for me to gain experience in the industry. The tactile experience of a show floor is unparalleled in terms of usefulness for learning what is happening at the very forefront of an industry and the CEDIA Home Technology Event provided just that for me in the CI world.
Traversing the show floor I was able to learn about the industry firsthand and with Chantell and Kim by my side I was able to meet the majority of you at the show to put names to faces and meet the people behind the products.
So for me the show was a good one, it was elucidating, interesting and invaluable in terms of experience but beyond that it was also undeniably enjoyable. Ours seems to be an industry where the adage ‘work hard play hard’ couldn’t be more apposite and the gregarious and affable nature of those in attendance made this philosophy instantly attainable for an industry newcomer like myself.
That said there was no ignoring the murmurings of discontent towards the size and scope of the show. Whether furtive or in some cases brazen, the proclamations of disquiet were there to be heard. As I’ve previously stated however, ours is not an industry in a vacuum, it is part of a wider global economy – a global economy which is struggling – and we must still weather the storm before the halcyon days return.
Upper Echelons
This year’s show was the first to be organised by Upper Street Events and with a significant number of debutant exhibitors and visitors, as well as a new layout and approach, it promised to be an engaging affair. Over 250 brands supported the event and the final attendance totalled 5559 which is an increase of around 7% on the 2010 event, with exceptional visitor attendance on the middle day of the show boosted by steadier, high quality stand traffic on the Tuesday and Thursday. From the pre-registration statistics, around 60% of visitors who applied to attend were new to the event with many drawn from the fields of property development, interior and lighting design, architecture and electrical contracting. With plans afoot for next year’s show many big names, including AWE, Control 4, Premier Mounts, Redline, Carlo Gavazzi, Totem and IMP, have already signed up.
“We are delighted with the industry reaction to our first ever show for CEDIA” commented Show Manager, Cheryl Carroll from Upper Street Events. “The industry turned out in really good numbers to support the show which offered a great chance to see major products and new, integration technologies. Exhibitors were pleased to see so many new faces at the show and also appreciated the high quality audience. Our new features, including the Hub Theatre programme, Room Set spaces and 3D Feature Zone, proved popular and, with new exhibitors signing up for next year already, we’ve a great platform to build on for 2012.”
Attracting Attention
A major event attraction this year was the 3D Zone featuring top end displays from JVC and Panasonic with support from a broad range of top industry names, including Arcam, AWE Europe, Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, KEF and URC. In two specially-built theatres, the latest cutting edge equipment demonstrated how awe-inspiring technology combined with immersive 3D content can help custom installers provide a stunning home cinema, gaming, sports and movie viewing experience for their customers.
Beyond the 3D Zone other highlights included the new Hub Theatre arena on the show floor which drew in the crowds for its series of free presentations. The programme cast an important eye to the future of the industry with sessions from a host of leading experts including Jim Read from Arup, Sue Timney from the British Institute of Interior Design, David Myres from ADAM Architecture, Lucy Martin from John Cullen Lighting and Tony Cable from the NICEIC.
View to the future
It wasn’t just your team from SVI that had a productive a rewarding show, however, as Stuart Tickle, Managing Director of AWE, explained to us the benefits of the CEDIA Home Technology Event for them: “We had a fantastic show with a major presence showing our continued commitment to the CI industry. URC, Panasonic, Samsung and Philips Dynalite all headlined and drew in the crowds who also spent a great deal of time with us seeing our other leading brands up close. We were also delighted to power the 3D theatre that featured the mind blowing 152-inch Panasonic CHT screen, KEF Muon loudspeakers and Arcam amplification. The number of times I was told that this was the best 3D experience they had ever seen was incredible! What’s more, not only did our brand selection take the interest of show visitors, but it also caught the attention of many press including the BBC, who proceeded to film a selection of our products on the stand.”
Adding further praise for the event Petra Van Meeuwen, Marketing Manager at Crestron said: "We were pleased to see many of our Crestron dealers at the show. The Prodigy line up and Digital Media 8G were the highlights of our exhibit and were received very well. We also announced our Crestron Integration Award winners at the show and were delighted to hand out accolades to our dealers who have worked hard at creating stunning Crestron residential properties this year."
Next year’s show is scheduled for 29th–31st May and more information will follow in due course but until then here a few of things we were giving the glad eye to on the show floor this time round…
Trade shows are a brilliant way to get to know an industry better and I had previously been indoctrinated into the AV community at this year’s Sound & Vision – The Bristol Show as my first duty within my new role with SVI. The prospect of an intense and immersive show environment had daunted me at first but in hindsight I realise it was the best way for me to gain experience in the industry. The tactile experience of a show floor is unparalleled in terms of usefulness for learning what is happening at the very forefront of an industry and the CEDIA Home Technology Event provided just that for me in the CI world.
Traversing the show floor I was able to learn about the industry firsthand and with Chantell and Kim by my side I was able to meet the majority of you at the show to put names to faces and meet the people behind the products.
So for me the show was a good one, it was elucidating, interesting and invaluable in terms of experience but beyond that it was also undeniably enjoyable. Ours seems to be an industry where the adage ‘work hard play hard’ couldn’t be more apposite and the gregarious and affable nature of those in attendance made this philosophy instantly attainable for an industry newcomer like myself.
That said there was no ignoring the murmurings of discontent towards the size and scope of the show. Whether furtive or in some cases brazen, the proclamations of disquiet were there to be heard. As I’ve previously stated however, ours is not an industry in a vacuum, it is part of a wider global economy – a global economy which is struggling – and we must still weather the storm before the halcyon days return.
Upper Echelons
This year’s show was the first to be organised by Upper Street Events and with a significant number of debutant exhibitors and visitors, as well as a new layout and approach, it promised to be an engaging affair. Over 250 brands supported the event and the final attendance totalled 5559 which is an increase of around 7% on the 2010 event, with exceptional visitor attendance on the middle day of the show boosted by steadier, high quality stand traffic on the Tuesday and Thursday. From the pre-registration statistics, around 60% of visitors who applied to attend were new to the event with many drawn from the fields of property development, interior and lighting design, architecture and electrical contracting. With plans afoot for next year’s show many big names, including AWE, Control 4, Premier Mounts, Redline, Carlo Gavazzi, Totem and IMP, have already signed up.
“We are delighted with the industry reaction to our first ever show for CEDIA” commented Show Manager, Cheryl Carroll from Upper Street Events. “The industry turned out in really good numbers to support the show which offered a great chance to see major products and new, integration technologies. Exhibitors were pleased to see so many new faces at the show and also appreciated the high quality audience. Our new features, including the Hub Theatre programme, Room Set spaces and 3D Feature Zone, proved popular and, with new exhibitors signing up for next year already, we’ve a great platform to build on for 2012.”
Attracting Attention
A major event attraction this year was the 3D Zone featuring top end displays from JVC and Panasonic with support from a broad range of top industry names, including Arcam, AWE Europe, Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, KEF and URC. In two specially-built theatres, the latest cutting edge equipment demonstrated how awe-inspiring technology combined with immersive 3D content can help custom installers provide a stunning home cinema, gaming, sports and movie viewing experience for their customers.
Beyond the 3D Zone other highlights included the new Hub Theatre arena on the show floor which drew in the crowds for its series of free presentations. The programme cast an important eye to the future of the industry with sessions from a host of leading experts including Jim Read from Arup, Sue Timney from the British Institute of Interior Design, David Myres from ADAM Architecture, Lucy Martin from John Cullen Lighting and Tony Cable from the NICEIC.
View to the future
It wasn’t just your team from SVI that had a productive a rewarding show, however, as Stuart Tickle, Managing Director of AWE, explained to us the benefits of the CEDIA Home Technology Event for them: “We had a fantastic show with a major presence showing our continued commitment to the CI industry. URC, Panasonic, Samsung and Philips Dynalite all headlined and drew in the crowds who also spent a great deal of time with us seeing our other leading brands up close. We were also delighted to power the 3D theatre that featured the mind blowing 152-inch Panasonic CHT screen, KEF Muon loudspeakers and Arcam amplification. The number of times I was told that this was the best 3D experience they had ever seen was incredible! What’s more, not only did our brand selection take the interest of show visitors, but it also caught the attention of many press including the BBC, who proceeded to film a selection of our products on the stand.”
Adding further praise for the event Petra Van Meeuwen, Marketing Manager at Crestron said: "We were pleased to see many of our Crestron dealers at the show. The Prodigy line up and Digital Media 8G were the highlights of our exhibit and were received very well. We also announced our Crestron Integration Award winners at the show and were delighted to hand out accolades to our dealers who have worked hard at creating stunning Crestron residential properties this year."
Next year’s show is scheduled for 29th–31st May and more information will follow in due course but until then here a few of things we were giving the glad eye to on the show floor this time round…
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