CEDIA Expo 2008 Attendance: A Closer Look at the Numbers - Cedia Expo 2008

CEDIA Expo 2008 Attendance: A Closer Look at the Numbers

CEDIA’s claim that “non-exhibiting” attendees increased is surprising, so we evaluate the attendance data.

CEDIA says non-exhibitor attendance increased at 2008 Expo even though overall attendance declined by 4,000.

Sep
19

By Tom LeBlanc
Filed in: News, Associations, CEDIA, Events
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09.19.2008 — CEDIA Expo 2008 attendance was down 14 percent, but the organization says the number of "non-exhibiting attendees" actually increased.

Usually, trade show attendance figures don’t matter all that much, especially to the integrators that attend CEDIA Expo -- it’s the quality of the show, not the size of it, that matters.

Many, however, waited with particular interest for CEDIA’s release of attendance figures for the 2008 Expo.

CEDIA Expo is the largest trade show in the custom electronics industry. Would attendance be drastically down, indicating that things are even worse than they seem?

Increase in Non-Exhibiting Attendees

We'll start with the bad news:

Attendance decreased 14 percent in 2008
There were 25,000 attendees at CEDIA Expo 2008, compared to 29,000 in 2007
"Over 500 exhibitors" in 2008 compared to 569 in 2007 for a maximum drop of 68 exhibitors

The silver lining is CEDIA’s indication that "the number of non-exhibiting professionals in attendance increased."

It's a twist surprising enough to warrant a closer look at the numbers involved.

Exhibitors Brought Fewer Employees

If the number of non-exhibiting attendees increased and total attendance fell by 4,000, it means:

the number of exhibiting attendees fell significantly
exhibiting companies brought fewer employees
the average exhibitor brought about 60 employees to the show

Some companies had large booths: AMX had 94 employees and Crestron had 125.

However, most exhibitors don't have footprints as large as AMX or Crestron. American Power Conversion (APC) sent 11 employees, and Eaton says it had about 13 employees in Denver.

At least one traditionally large booth, Klipsch Audio Technologies, dropped out. Let's assume Klipsch would have brought 94 employees, the same as AMX.

Another noted omission on the 2008 show floor was Transparent Audio. The company chose to exhibit in a suite at the Hyatt across the street from the Colorado Convention Center. Traditionally, Transparent's booth has been pretty modest, so let's assume it would have brought eight employees.

Crunching the Numbers

Splitting the difference between the missing eight exhibiting attendees from Transparent and the missing 94 from Klipsch, we'll assume the remaining dropped-out exhibitors would have brought 51 employees each.

Based on that assumption, the missing exhibitors account for a 3,468 drop in attendance. That's pretty close to the 4,000 drop-off indicated by CEDIA.

The problem: it's unlikely those exhibitors would average 51 employees at the show.

Most of the booths that dropped out probably would have been closer in size to APC (11) and Eaton (13) than to those of AMX (94) or Crestron (125).

For argument's sake, let's split the average number of exhibiting attendees per exhibitor missing from show in half (and round up). If each missing exhibitor brought an average of 26 employees, the missing exhibitors account for a 1,768 drop in attendance.

That leaves 2,232 attendees unaccounted for.

It's logical to assume that many of the "over 500 exhibitors" brought fewer employees to the show than in the past. However, based on these figures, each vendor would have brought an average of 4.46 fewer employees to the show. That's a lot.

Decline in Trade Show Attendance is Expected

A decline in trade show attendance is to be expected in the current economic environment, according to Karen Formico, marketing manager for Broan-NuTone and Board member for the Trade Show Exhibitors Association (TSEA). Travel costs have increased while companies’ budgets have tightened, she explains.

Broan-NuTone exhibited at 2008 CEDIA Expo, but it has pulled out of the EHX Fall 2008 on Nov. 4–7 in Long Beach, Calif.

“The market [is the only reason we pulled out of EHX]. Our products are in the home, and new-home construction is significantly down,” she says. “In a down market, it doesn’t necessarily mean cutting out marketing, but you have to look at tightening the belt just as you would with [owning and running] a home.”

Pre-registration for EHX Fall 2008, in general, is on pace with that of EHX Fall 2007, according to Demetrios Louloudes, EHX marketing manager.

It’s all about timing, and 2008 has been a tough year for the custom electronics industry. Integrators have been feeling crunches from a slowing economy, the housing slowdown and declining product margins.

The NPD Group recently predicted the consumer electronics industry will experience just 1 percent to 3 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2008 and all of 2009.

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Comments

Posted by Ranger Home on 09/19 at 11:02 AM

Major bummer Klipsch was not there. Not a wise move IMO. They could have had a smaller booth and not as many people as last year. There are too many other manufacturers to not be there and get mindshare not to mention show off their new lines. Klipsh needs to do a better job of explaining the new lines as well as what is and is not carried at big box dealers. BAD call Klipsh.

Not giving up on Klipsch but Proficient Audio dangles a mighty fine dealer showroom program that blows them all away. They got a few more of my dollars. Are they the best? No, but who is? Who cares as long as customers are happy and margins are there.

A big name like Klipsch makes it an easier sell to end users, MOST of the time, in our smaller markets anyways. If I didnt have such a fantastic relationship with my rep, I would push less Klipsch.

Posted by Skeptical about the average exhibitor attendees qu on 09/19 at 12:12 PM

As an employee in charge of trade-shows for a major vendor, I am very skeptical of the average exhibitor attendee numbers provided by CEDIA. Based on my own expereince exhibiting at the show for the last 12 years, I would peg the average booth personnel at 25 - tops. Badges on the other hand is another story as it is common practice for a vendor to use many more badges than attendees sent to cover the bases in case of last minute personnel changes. Badges are allotted based on the square footage you rent and it has always been a very generous amount. I would love to know the methed for calculating exhibitor attendees. It feels like CEDIA has rose colored glasses on.

Posted by Julie Jacobson on 09/19 at 12:16 PM

Does it really matter?

What really matters is: Did exhibitors feel good about the show? Did attendees?

Posted by Tom LeBlanc on 09/19 at 12:36 PM

Skeptical—Just a clarification ... You write that you’re skeptical of the average attendee numbers “provided by CEDIA,” but CEDIA didn’t provide that number.

It’s an assumption for argument’s sake.....

“Splitting the difference between the missing eight exhibiting attendees from Transparent and the missing 94 from Klipsch, we’ll assume the remaining dropped-out exhibitors would have brought 51 employees each.”

Your contention that the number is probably more like 25 is valid. I just want to be clear that CEDIA didn’t claim that 51 figure.

thanks

Posted by John Stangsa on 09/19 at 05:23 PM

I agree, our booth always has at least 50% more badges piled up in a box then who we really have for employees there every year. You can’t count those. I’ll bet there are thousands of fake names and unused badges printed up every year.

Attendance was WAY off this year for the people that matter, BUYING dealers. Ask anyone on the floor who was selling boxes this year.

Posted by David Lee on 09/23 at 12:06 PM

We as exhibitors had a great show so all the talk about exhibitor employees.... has no impact on the show (at least in my thinking).

My question is, who is it that stayed home? From my observations of being at the show 6 or 7 years and being an exhibitor for 4 years now, I believe many of those left behind were installers or simply people that really didn’t need to be there.

We saw many more owners, system designers, and sales people which I think made for a more productive show. We also know dealers that did just that, the owner and salespeople came but they did not bring the installers this year. I’m not taking anything away from the installers but usually they are not the decision makers.

I think much comes down to each company’s goals for the show though and if your goal for 08 was to meet with the decision makers and perhaps even have more time with them because there were fewer attendees, then it was most likely a productive show.