The 2014 total of 952 exhibiting companies represents an increase of more than 6% on last year's figure, and over 200 of those companies are completely new to ISE, giving visitors a wealth of new business opportunities in every technology sector served by the event. The show will occupy more than 36,000 net square metres for the first time, while pre-registration also reached record levels.
Yet Mike Blackman, the event's managing director, believes the real story of ISE 2014 lies behind these impressive numbers. "This week we've been drawing a parallel between ISE and the B2B magazines that support us as media partners," Blackman comments. "If ISE were a magazine, the exhibitor stands on our show floor would be our advertising. Like a magazine, that's where we derive the bulk of our revenue, but also like a magazine, we can only grow if we develop editorial content - and that's been our big focus this year."
By 'editorial content', Blackman is referring to the supporting conferences, education sessions, networking opportunities and other 'event experience' enhancements that increasingly define large trade-shows like Integrated Systems Europe. In the case of ISE 2014, there are more of these than ever - all the result of extensive industry consultation, and many supported by new partnerships.
The day before the show, Monday 3 February, saw hundreds of delegates attend the Smart Building Conference, Investor Showcase and Audio Forum pre-show events, followed by the Opening Keynote Address, Kick-Starting the Market for Building Automation, by Cisco's Dr Dirk Schlesinger.
On the show days themselves, the content theme will be picked up in two new show-floor theatres, showcasing commercial and residential solutions respectively and between them hosting more than 40 free-to-attend, non-technical seminars from 11:00 each day.
"With pre-registration levels indicating that our attendee growth will at least match that of our show floor, we are confident ISE 2014 will be yet another record-breaker," concludes Blackman. "However, our real achievements are the ways in which we have enhanced our event to make it useful and relevant to new visitor groups, helping to ensure that those who are visiting the show for the first time have a genuine desire to return next year."
(Jim Evans)
