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AV Systems
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Investing in InfoComm
AV market continues to grow, attract government buyers
Jun 1, 2005
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by Alicia Zappier and Mark J. Pescatore
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The International Communications Industries Association is bringing its annual InfoComm exhibition and conference to the Las Vegas Convention Center next month in Las Vegas, NV, where ICIA officials expect to once again break attendance figures. Conference sessions run June 4-10, with the show floor open June 8-10.
“This year we’re expecting about 25,000 in attendance, which is an increase over last year,” said Randal Lemke, Ph.D., executive director of ICIA. The show will house 700 exhibitors, also a jump over last year’s number.
According to ICIA market research, a large majority of AV companies expect increases in revenue and profits over the next few years. “This is a high growth industry,” Lemke explained. “Audiovisual communications is everything from videoconferencing and streaming media to plasma displays, digital signage, and interactive whiteboards. It’s everywhere from the classroom to the boardroom to the living room. There’s a real demand for AV professionals to help select, integrate, install, and service AV products for optimum performance.”
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| ICIA officials expect about 25,000 attendees at InfoComm 2005. |
Lemke noted a growing government attendance at InfoComm, some of which comes from international attendees. This year, InfoComm will host a new International Buyer’s Program, which is being sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce. According to ICIA officials, the program is intended to unite international buyers with U.S. firms by advocating for trade shows in the United States with high export potential.
There will be an International Business Center by the registration area, where Department of Commerce reps will be available as a resource. Additionally, sessions on international buying will be held for exhibitors to learn how to work with regional partners and conduct business internationally. Lemke expects this new program to have a significant impact on the show, and it’s already in the plans for 2006.
Spread The Word
In particular, the government market continues to fuel the AV industry, with growth in areas such as digital signage, command and control, and education. “Even through the recession, the higher education market stayed strong,” Lemke said. “During the early part of the recession, colleges and universities’ budgets always lagged the economy, so they were still buying. But even toward the end of the recession, buying stayed strong even when budgets were cut because colleges had to use AV equipment in order to be competitive in their recruiting process.”
To that end, EduComm returns for a second year with concurrent tracks for K-12 and higher education technology specialists. Sessions will include speakers from a number of colleges and universities, as well as manufacturers such as SMART Technologies and Sonic Foundry. Topics will include equipment theft prevention, online courses, streaming media, and classroom control systems.
Educational offerings don’t end with EduComm. According to Taly Walsh, ICIA senior vice president of marketing and membership, there will be more than 200 InfoComm Academy courses, and partner and manufacturer training will push the total session count above 300.
The program schedule includes a number of special sessions. Returning for a fourth year is the Projection Summit, a two-day program designed to address trends and technology in the projector industry. Managed by Insight Media and McLaughlin Consulting Group, the summit will run June 6 and 7, with sessions from industry experts on emerging technologies, pocket projectors, flat panel display competition, and the annual industry forecast debate.
“Sales are still very strong, especially with smaller projectors, which have become commodities in this industry,” Lemke noted. “But high-end projectors are still very much within our channel. The whole market is strong.”
Following last year’s successful introduction, Super Tuesday will return — a day of workshops for AV professionals that’s scheduled the day before the show floor opens. This year’s topics include presentation tools and technologies, collaborative conferencing, project management, and AT/IT convergence. For more in-depth instruction, the Institute for Professional Development will offer three-day courses before the show on a handful of topics, such as university facility design and videoconferencing.
Also on June 7, the Manufacturers Industries Forum will feature panelists from AMX, Barco, JVC, Polycom, and Shure. The manufacturer representatives will provide perspectives about the state of the industry from the control, display, videoconferencing, and audio segments. It will be followed by an opening reception and the 2nd annual InfoComm AV Awards Banquet, which will feature awards from Systems Contractor News and Rental & Staging Systems, sister publications to Government Video.
And on June 8, representatives from the Independent Consultants in Audiovisual Technologies and the Sound, Audiovisual and Video Integrators Councils will participate in the AV Best Practices Forum. The forum will celebrate the release of The Best of AV Practice, a collection of tips and guidelines for project managers, engineers, and consultants. Published by ICIA and produced by the ICAT and SAVVI, Walsh said the manual was designed to help AV professionals “really understand recommended practices for processes in developing AV systems.”
Show Floor Specials
Along with a steady increase in projector sales, the display arena continues to see steady growth in the government market. “Every government entity has to do presentations, so we think command and control is a growing segment for us,” Lemke said. To address these demands, InfoComm is rolling out a makeshift command and control center this year, situated in the lobby of the LVCC.
“It’s the first thing you’re going to see when you enter the building,” Lemke explained. “It will be connected to four or five different sites at the show via an IP/Internet link. It will also be connected to our various pavilions.” The goal of the exhibit, he added, is to demonstrate AV over IT networks, the applicability of having information brought together from various sites, and remote monitoring.
InfoComm is welcoming some new pavilions to the show floor, including a Residential Systems pavilion to highlight technological solutions for the home. Also, a Presentations Technology Pavilion and Seminar Series is being introduced to help attendees create affordable, attractive presentations. Presented by the ICIA Presentations Council, it will focus on hardware and software solutions, as well as best practices for the use of presentation technologies.
To address the growing demands in the digital signage arena, a new pavilion will offer display technology, control software, content creation software, and video routing and distribution. Approximately 40 exhibitors have already committed to the Digital Signage Pavilion, including Chyron, Clarity Visual Systems, and Matrox.
The Interactive Multimedia & Collaborative Communications Alliance returns with the Collaborative Conferencing Pavilion, which will promote about 40 companies that are involved in videoconferencing, audio conferencing, and Web-based conferencing. Other pavilions will address audio, lighting and staging, and streaming media.
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