Hi all,
Having just got back from Orlando and caught up (at last!), I am pleased to say that my trip was very worth while. However, I'm not sure that I will continue to make it an annual trip. My own reasons for going along in the past have been to see our suppliers, see the latest products, look for new suppliers and to get a feel for what our market will look like in the next few years. With the advent of ISE, I can get all of the above there without a long haul flight, the associated expenses and time away from the office. This year's show was much quieter than in previous years. The number of exhibitors and the size of their stands seemed smaller. Visitor numbers were obviously down too. I found myself wandering about in fairly people free isles.
How come my trip was worth while? Instead of staying in a hotel close to the convention centre, we stayed in a holiday apartment about 30 minutes drive away. That meant we didn't find ourselves in the bar immediately after each day. As a result we didn't do a great deal of networking (actually what's the point if you can't remember what you talked about or even who with by the following morning?). We did find ourselves with lots of time to plan our trips to the show, got plenty of sleep and got to the show on time each day without a hangover! We saw all our suppliers, had a good look around the show and found time to do some strategy thinking away from the office. That makes us sound boring? who cares.
What did we see at the show? Apart from LED projectors, some very clever edge blending software and some cool stuff from our own suppliers (mostly AMX and projectiondesign), there wasn't a great deal to write home about, sorry.
This year was my first as Chair of the InfoComm European Council. Before you ask, it's a group of European InfoComm members who get together twice a year to help InfoComm to become a lot less US centric. We talk about their education programs, work on industry standards and how we can get more involved to promote the industry itself. My key contribution to this years meeting was to ensure it wasn't death by PowerPoint and that it finished on time. Between now and ISE (the next council meeting) I hope to be able to help more people from more countries involved. If you aren't a member of InfoComm already, you really are missing out on some great opportunities for AV education and hearing what's going on in the industry.
- Education for your staff - they run some great courses. The courses and tests are discounted by what's called 'Edubucks' which you get by being a member
- Free access to all InfoComm shows worldwide (although I have never paid to get into one anyway)
- Discounts on show floor space at their shows
- Free market research publications
- Does no harm to be seen to be a member of the key industry organisation
- Regular emails (rather a lot actually) on what's going on - education, events, new products and general industry information
- One of the emails is called InfoComm IQ and it lists all the latest products that the member manufacturers have just launched
- The opportunity to network and influence at meetings such as the European Council and the Round Tables, where users, resellers, distributors and manufacturers get together
For more information, please visit
www.infocomm.org
Or, get in touch with me.
Take care all.
Gordon
