AV Will Meet Networking in Vegas Starting in '08

InfoComm and NXTcomm to collocate at the LVCC in even years

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 5/14/2007

Chief information officers will have one place to see audiovisual and telecommunications products and services in even-numbered years at least through 2010.

That place will be the Las Vegas Convention Center, where, starting June 17–20, 2008, InfoComm Intl. will collocate with NXTcomm. The tradeshows will have two overlapping days, with one discrete day of exhibits for each show at the beginning and end of the schedule.

Owners of both shows said they intended to continue the collocation in even-numbered years, and InfoComm has already signed its LVCC contract for 2010.

After this year's show in Anaheim, June 15–21, InfoComm will rotate between Las Vegas and Orlando, said the association's executive director, Randal Lemke.

The Telecommunications Industry Assn. and U.S. Telecom Assn., co-owners of NXTcomm, have yet to sign an LVCC contract for 2010, but Wayne Crawford, executive director of the show, said they are committed to the collocation at least for the 2008 and 2010 shows.

NXTcomm is scheduled June 18–21 at Chicago's McCormick Place. Its future odd-year locations are up in the air, and Crawford said he expects to have some announcements concerning them over the coming weeks.

Organizers of both shows said they had no other collocations planned for the time being.

This one made sense, they said, because of the increasing overlap in buyers of products and services for the audiovisual and telecommunications businesses.

"Everything you see on the front end," said Crawford, referring to audiovisual presentations, "is now transferred and stored on some type of network," such as the telecommunications networks owned and developed by NXTcomm exhibitors. "Our attendees will be able to see both sides."

Lemke said InfoComm would continue to attract the librarians and university and corporate AV buyers it has always catered to. Meanwhile, the hope is that the collocation will give more CIOs and others with broader purchasing power a reason to attend as well.

"The convergence between the worlds of AV and IT means that more of InfoComm's attendees are interested in learning more about IT, and IT professionals are interested in purchasing AV equipment and services," he said. "The collocation also enables some joint show promotion and some shared operation resources."

InfoComm, the TIA and USTA expect the first combined event in 2008 to fill about 750,000 net square feet of exhibit space with 1,350 exhibitors and attract 50,000 attendees.

On the 2007 Tradeshow Week 200, InfoComm ranked No. 46 with 770 exhibiting firms spanning 432,602 net sq. ft. and attracting 18,074 professional attendees.

NXTcomm is the third generation of the now-defunct Supercomm, No. 66 on the TSW 200 for its last staging in 2005, when it featured 309,000 net sq. ft., 670 exhibitors and 15,732 professional attendees.

After that, the TIA and USTA parted ways and last year produced their own separate shows: Globalcomm and TelecomNext, respectively.

The TIA said Globalcomm filled 203,000 net sq. ft. with 502 exhibitors and drew 18,000 attendees. USTA said TelecomNext had 215,000 net sq. ft., 270 exhibitors and 10,000 attendees.

Despite claims of success, the groups called off their individual shows last October and said that they would reunite in the production of NXTcomm.

Shortly after, they hired Natl. Assn. of Broadcasters veteran Crawford to run the show. Former E.J. Krause executives Jim Forlenza and Bill Herman joined him soon after.