Only a few days before Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) kicks off its 12th edition in Amsterdam, the managing director of the event says pre-registrations indicate the show will break last year’s record of more than 51,000 attendees.
Mike Blackman, managing director of Integrated Systems Events, said on AV Week pre-registrations are about 27 percent ahead of the same time last year, although that pace will level off a bit as the event draws closer.
“It looks like we’re going to hit another record,” says Blackman.
Peter Brown of Stewart Filmscreen, one of the companies that has been part of ISE since its inception, says the companies uses ISE, InfoComm and CEDIA as “key strategic launching points. We want to make the biggest splash. It’s not just a European platform. It’s a global platform.”
Blackman is thrilled with how ISE has grown since it launched in Geneva, Switzerland in 2004.
“When we started the show, the concept was to make something for the industry by the industry,” he says. “Obviously we’ve done the right thing. All the major manufacturers participate because they want this show to happen. The industry wants it, the industry loves it. They put it as the most important thing on their calendars.”
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AV Week host Tim Albright notes ISE falls in the middle of the industry’s two other largest shows—InfoComm in June and CEDIA in October. ISE, by the way, is a collaboration between those two groups, so Blackman says neither is worried about it exceeding the attendance of those two shows recently.
“All three shows are different,” says Blackman. “The majority of manufacturers are gearing their [research and development] to fit in with these shows. The shows are where the press comes. The shows are where the audiences come.”
One of the newest pieces of the show for those who’ve attended in the past or are making their first trip is the ISE app, which Blackman says includes a full floor plan, exhibitor list, lists of conferences, education and training, and perhaps most interestingly a leader board based on how much you use the app during the show.
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Daily winners will earn a phone, tablet or TV based on how much they post pictures, comments or other sorts of interaction using the application, says Blackman.
“The idea is to make a tool that makes the show work for you,” he says.
Looking forward to 2016, ISE will expand to four days from the usual three, says Blackman, a nod to the continued growth of the event and the desire to make it something people continuing coming back to enjoy every year.
“We have a responsibility to our attendees and exhibitors to spread that crowd,” says Blackman.
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