Just Got to Be There
By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 5/8/2006
Las Vegas—Government mandates aren't typically a reason to rejoice. But for the Natl. Assn. of Broadcasters, a combination of industry innovation and government regulation in high-definition transmission helped NAB2006 buck recent wishy-washy attendance trends.
The April 24–27 show at the Las Vegas Convention Center showcased 1,440 companies spanning 860,000 net square feet of exhibit space. Pre-registration numbers put projected attendance at 105,100 (including exhibitors), up from 104,000 last year.
According to the most recent Tradeshow Week 200, NAB2005, No. 13 on the list, drew 56,298 professional attendees, up from 51,732 the previous year.
Other recent shows haven't been so lucky. Attendance was down 2.9 percent at U.S. tradeshows in the fourth quarter of 2005 compared with the year-ago quarter, according to TSW research. Last year's medical and consumer shows also saw year-over-year decreases in attendance.
But NAB has something most other shows don't have: a mandate from the U.S. government making participation in the broadcasting industry's largest annual gathering practically a job requirement.
The Federal Communications Commission has been implementing rules requiring television stations to air digital television programming since 1999. However, by February 2009, "full-power TV stations will cease broadcasting on their current analog channels, and the spectrum they use for analog broadcasting will be reclaimed and put to other uses," according to the FCC's Web site. The world of TV will be all high-definition, all the time.
Radio stations are undergoing a similar, albeit lagging, transition to HD.
"That's one of the drivers of our strong attendance, yes. It has been for seven or eight years," said Chris Brown, NAB's senior vice president of conferences and expositions. "We've moved a little further along the curve now. It's no longer an issue of when the product will be there. It's there. It's now an issue of how to install it."
The challenge as a show organizer, Brown added, is to stay ahead of the curve, and "make sure you shape your offerings to maximize the innovation."
NAB does that mainly through conference content, pavilions and special displays. At an interactive exhibit on the showfloor, attendees could try out everything that goes into a digital television operation. The conference included a business law and regulation track featuring FCC commissioners and a speech by Chairman Kevin Martin.
Mike Langford, a Cumulus Radio engineer who's attended NAB for upwards of two decades, said he's seen nothing like the attendance surge HD has caused in recent years.
"It's like any innovation," he said. "If you want to do something new, you have to find somebody who knows how to do it. And they're all here (at the show)."
Sally Rich, director of marketing and communications for flagship NAB exhibitor Dielectric, said the FCC mandate is definitely driving attendance — but the real buzz at this year's show was around mobile broadcasting.
After the HD commotion dies down, it seems another innovation will be waiting to shake up the industry, and — NAB hopes — keep people coming to the show.
