Trade shows: some people love them; some people hate them. But it sure makes it easier when the industry has a good one.
And for retiring InfoComm Executive Director and CEO Randal A. Lemke, his last InfoComm 2012 was a great one. 933 exhibitors participated at InfoComm this year with more than 487,000 net square feet of exhibit and special events space.
More than 34,268 AV professionals (up 4%) came from more than 90 countries. If +4% doesn’t seem like much, then compare it to the GDP growth of most Western economies…or to the interest your bank will give you on your money these days. In the exhibition business they have a saying: “Up is up.”
And with 34,268 visitors, most exhibitors are extremely happy—plenty of opportunity to sell someone something in AV.
Registrations for InfoComm University educational courses totaled 6940, up 15.6% percent over last year. Super Tuesday, a full-day of advanced instruction for AV pros, attracted 850 registrants in 2012, up 32% from 2011. PreComm attracted 501 registrants, up 6%from 2011. More than 5561 attended seminars and workshops, nearly 1000 more than last year. Tours attracted 268 participants.
With two-thirds of all of the education sessions being new, participants flocked to classes on smart building technology, networked AV and conferencing.
This year, 145 AV professionals passed the Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) exam onsite, a new record. Twenty-seven passed the CTS-D and two passed the CTS-I.
Go Missed InfoComm 2012? No Problem, See the Videos from rAVe USA