Two Tradeshows Now for Telecom

TIA's GLOBALCOMM will launch in 2006, while USTA promotes its event

By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 10/18/2004

For 16 years, telecommunications service providers and manufacturers have united behind SUPERCOMM. But now, due to a dispute between two associations, SUPERCOMM will be history after 2005 and the industry will have to decide between two competing tradeshows rather than attending one annual industry gathering.

Just as exhibitors and attendees in the hardware sector had to choose between two shows this year, so will telecommunications carriers and equipment makers have to make a choice in 2006. The Telecommunications Industry Assn., which represents manufacturers, hopes they choose GLOBALCOMM, slated to launch June 5–8 at Chicago's McCormick Place. The U.S. Telecom Assn., which represents carriers, in 2006 is throwing its weight behind TELECOM, its annual gathering.

TIA President Matt Flanigan said he has already received inquiries about GLOBALCOMM, which will serve a broad cross section of the telecom industry. TIA plans to retain the practice used during SUPERCOMM of rotating floor space among large vendors. "It's definitely not starting from scratch," he said. "We will evolve GLOBALCOMM as the market evolves."

He said the new event "will bring together communications technology suppliers with service providers and enterprise users to create a converged, next-generation global telecommunications marketplace." IP network evolution, wireless-wireline convergence, intermodal competition, video, content and asset management and network security will be among the growth areas, he said.

Because the associations jointly own the SUPERCOMM name, the Tradeshow Week 200 event will not be held after the June 6–9, 2005 show. After enduring the telecom train wreck of recent years, the show in 2004 was starting to stage its comeback. It had just returned to McCormick for a three-year run after spending the previous six years at Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center.

The associations had spent the past two years unsuccessfully trying to negotiate terms to extend their five-year agreement. USTA announced its future tradeshow plans the week before TELECOM's Oct. 9–13 run at the Venetian Hotel Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Flanigan said he asked that the situation be communicated in a press release issued jointly by USTA and TIA, but instead USTA issued a release without giving TIA any warning.

TIA was not totally blindsided, however. For months now, said Flanigan, "the No. 1 topic" for the board has been how to make GLOBALCOMM a useful and viable industry gathering. Because TIA was the managing partner in its relationship with USTA, it had control over dates and venues.

The 2004 SUPERCOMM, held June 20–24, attracted 26,300 attendees and 691 exhibitors to a 302,820 net square foot showfloor. In 2003, SUPERCOMM ranked No. 78 on the Tradeshow Week 200, drawing 25,357 attendees and 538 exhibitors to a 278,000 net sq. ft. showfloor. The previous year, it ranked No. 37, with 36,993 attendees, 816 exhibitors and a 484,000 net sq. ft. showfloor.

Jack Chalden, the show's general manager, recently left SUPERCOMM to start his own company. Flanigan said for the time being, he will not be replaced.

Neither TIA nor USTA believe the split will harm turnout at the final SUPERCOMM, which Flanigan said is 88 percent booked. USTA has given TIA permission to use the brand for its SUPERCOMM India, which last year drew more than 100 exhibitors and 15,000 attendees.

TELECOM, meanwhile, has grown from a 6,000 net sq. ft. showfloor with 61 exhibitors in 2001 to 23,000 net sq. ft. and 144 exhibitors in 2003. According to USTA, 37 percent of its attendees are local exchange carriers and 30 percent are equipment makers. The event attracts exhibitors from a variety of telecom segments.

USTA said that according to preliminary estimates, this year's TELECOM will feature a 40,000 sq. ft. floor with 235 exhibitors. The association plans to expand TELECOM for the 2006 show, set for Oct. 7–11 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

Flanigan said it's unfortunate that the industry no longer has one annual gathering supported by both associations. "It doesn't make sense to have the industry split."

USTA shied away from addressing that subject, however. "We really don't have any comment on that — that's an interesting question," said spokesman Tom Amontree.

TIA board member Rob Pullen, who heads the group's tradeshow committee, laments that the two associations will not be supporting a show anymore. "USTA and TIA have been great partners over the years," said Pullen, senior vice president of North America sales for Tellabs, adding that he understands why USTA wants to develop its own show.

The hardware industry is now back to one annual gathering after the American Hardware Manufacturers Assn. and Reed Exhibitions launched competing shows this year. The association recently called off its 2005 show, leaving Reed the apparent victor. Members of the hardware industry said they ended up the real losers in the standoff, however, since they were forced to invest in two shows or take sides despite conflicting loyalties.