Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
One van, one awards ceremony, one round table, one Intel ‘sweet shop’, one merger announcement, one cocktail reception (thanks MinQii for both of those), one supper club, one virtual mannequin, one bar, one vagabond, one new album cover, one buzzwall, one perfect digital exhibition network (thanks Melford, thanks signagelive), one beer bust (thanks dZine)…
… two taxis, two days, four theatres, half a dozen break out rooms, hundreds of exhibitors and 3,191 visitors made #ScreenMediaExpo quite simply the best show we have been to in many, many years.
The organisers tell us that day one saw an amazing 2,063 punters pass through the exhibition hall and day two 1,128 (it was quieter on day two but just as good).
It was easy to see (and hear) that 30% of these visitors were from overseas – an amazingly high number and something that happens year after year at this event in London. Maybe folks just like coming to London.
Jason Cremins from signagelive tweeted “Back from #ScreenMediaExpo and processing follow-ups. This is by far the best quality and number of leads we have collected at ANY show”
Jason added via skype “What a show, bar far the best we have ever done”
All the exhibitors who we spoke to were incredibly pleased with the quality of the visitors. There were real networks and real end users in attendance and they were all looking for product, solutions and answers.
First time exhibitor Jawad Siddiqui from Verifone who put the cleanest, newest taxi we have ever seen on the show floor was incredibly happy and told us he was pleasantly surprised at just how the good show was and how vibrant the industry is.
Jawad is spot on. The tide seems to be turning and there is a real vibrancy about the industry at the moment.
Frank Emerson, MD Pixel Inspirations told us “We only decided to take a stand 4 weeks prior to the event and so far we are absolutely delighted that we took the decision, time will tell but the number of solid enquiries was good with a lot of interest in the shelf edge solution and the freestanding solution
He added I think it has also broken the myth that Pixel don’t just do great content they supply great end to end solutions”
The quality of the stands was also superb, it seems that everyone had gone that extra mile to make sure what they presented was ‘just-so’ and hey things must be getting better – out of all the stands in Earls Court we only saw one PIXAR movie on display!!
May 20th, 2011 at 13:35 @608
I just wanted to add a big thanks to Mark and the team at Screen Events for putting on a superb show, they have really set the bar very high and we will be looking for the same commitment from other show organizers going forward.
Another big ‘well done’ to Chris Heap and the Imperative Group for putting on the conferences that enticed new people to the show. It was refreshing to talk to so many people from media/marketing agencies that were keen to understand how they could extend their offering to include digital signage.
We have rebooked the same stand for next year already, which was a very easy decision and the same one that I am sure the vast majority of the other exhibitors will be making.
May 25th, 2011 at 19:17 @845
I would like to echo the same words above from Jason. It was an honour to be a part of the event alongside some of the biggest names in the industry. Feels great to be a part of an industry full of tremendous growth and innovation.
The expo has given us the the voice we needed to be heard in such a fast moving industry. Since the expo, our phones have not stopped ringing with potential clients and investors from North America, continental Europe, Asia and Africa. We could not have asked for a better result and its all thanks to Mark and the Screen Events team for making it all possible. Thank you once again for creating such a fantastic platform to promote growth in DOOH.
I would like to also make a special thank you to Adrian and the DailyDooh team for their on-going efforts to champion development in the industry, strive for excellence and spread the good word.