Wireless Show Hits a Jackpot in Las Vegas

CTIA exceeds previous records for attendance and exhibitor turnout

By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 4/17/2006

LAS VEGAS—For its first appearance in five years in the nation's most popular tradeshow city, CTIA Wireless blew past attendance and exhibitor records with a showfloor that ran out of space two months out.

The April 4-7 event at the Las Vegas Convention Center drew 1,000 exhibitors and about 40,000 attendees. That is up significantly from the 32,000 attendees and 850 exhibitors that filled a 320,000 net square foot showfloor at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in 2005, when CTIA marked its final New Orleans contract.

The wireless industry association drew 30,000 attendees and 702 exhibitors to a 300,000 net sq. ft. floor at Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center in 2004. The show was held in New Orleans in 2003 and Orlando in 2002.

For all the even-numbered years stretching out to 2024, Las Vegas will be home to the show, billed as the world's biggest wireless event.

Rob Mesirow, CTIA vice president and show director, said CTIA Wireless will likely be held in Atlanta, Orlando and Las Vegas during odd-numbered years.

This year's event featured seven international pavilions. One-fifth of attendees were foreign, a fact underscored by the show guide welcome being published in nine languages.

"We've been doing a lot of outreach all over the globe," said Mesirow, who joined a Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority trade mission to China in 2005 and plans to participate in one to India this year.

CTIA Wireless' return to Las Vegas also brought with it the hour-long taxi lines common to the city's most successful shows. Even lines for food and beverages snaked around inside the convention center. At night, the thousands of exhibitors and attendees spread out to nightspots for rounds of lavish parties.

"It's big, it's flashy — perfect for this city," said Garth Kubeledis, Optima Networks vice president. "It does feel like there's a better attitude, kind of like in the late-'90s."

Kubeledis wasn't the only one to recall the earlier era of wireless growth, before carriers clamped down on spending in 2002, forcing exhibitors to pull in the reins on their booths' size and wow factor.

But the network equipment providers and handset makers — the show's biggest exhibitors — were back in the glitz game at this year's show. Lucent Technologies' booth featured a fountain. Nokia's had hardwood floors and several rooms. And Motorola's included a Hummer.

Best of all, the booths were crowded with customers. Traffic on the showfloor was so dense that at times it was difficult to navigate.

A portion of the floor was dedicated to the Mobile Entertainment eXpo, billed as "a show within a show." MECCA, a mobile entertainment conference sponsored by Billboard magazine, was one of 20 official partner conferences. And iHollywood's Mobile Entertainment Summit, which was previously affiliated with CTIA Wireless, was held at the Beach, a bar across the street from the convention center.

Jeff Govek, a product manager for SensorLogic, said he didn't see too many new innovations at this year's show. But he is glad to see technology that had been discussed during past shows edging closer to reality. "It's a little better from the standpoint of now talking about real products," he said.

Ted Verani, senior vice president of business development for Trilobus Mobile, said CTIA Wireless is the industry's must-attend event. "This is where all the players are," he said.

Although the showfloor was busy, so were the meeting rooms. Suited executives flitting from meeting to meeting were a fixture throughout the show.

People with cell phones clasped to their ears were also a common sight. And those who weren't talking on phones were either checking e-mail on BlackBerrys or using WiFi-enabled laptops to get online. Despite the presence of 40,000 wireless users, the venue's beefed-up wireless network mostly withstood the added load.

Although CTIA is growing again, 3GSM World Congress is nipping at its heels. Venue-bound at its previous location in Cannes, France, the event exploded this year when it moved to Spain's Fira de Barcelona.

The audited show, held Feb. 13–16, drew 50,913 attendees, up from 33,793 the previous year. A total of 962 exhibitors turned out, compared with 600 in 2005. The show occupied 1.1 million gross sq. ft.

The GSM Assn., the show's organizer, claimed that the 3GSM World Congress is now "the biggest mobile show on Earth." It has also launched 3GSM Asia in Singapore Oct. 16–20. Ten other 3GSM events are being held this year, produced with help from Informa Telecoms & Media.

Mesirow disagreed that the 3GSM event is the biggest. "We're still the largest wireless event on the plant. I don't see that changing," he said.