NXT Is Nearly Super-sized
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 8/20/2007
In its final edition in 2005, the mega-telecom show Supercomm drew 15,732 attendees to a 309,000 net square foot showfloor at Chicago's McCormick Place and ranked No. 66 on the 2006 Tradeshow Week 200.
Two year later, at the same venue, NXTcomm, reincarnation of the defunct event, attracted 15,273 attendees to a 200,000 net sq. ft showfloor. Like Supercomm, NXTcomm is organized jointly by the Telecommunications Industry Assn. and USTelecom.
Even with a smaller showfloor, NXTcomm's attendance nearly matched Supercomm's.
"We think the 2007 audit proves that NXTcomm, the one show that the industry has wanted, has arrived," said Wayne Crawford, the show's executive director. "In the months to come, we intend to reach out to current and potential exhibitors, develop excellent conference programming and recruit business leaders as keynotes who are challenging the industry status quo."
Underscoring the show's success, he added, 81 percent of the showfloor has been rebooked for next year when the show rotates to the Las Vegas Convention Center June 16–19.
In 2005, TIA and USTelecom decided to split up, put the Supercomm brand out to pasture and each produce its own separate show. In 2006, TIA held Globalcomm and USTelecom held TelecomNEXT.
The separate shows didn't pull in the same crowds as Supercomm.
Globalcomm, ranked No. 132 on the 2007 TSW 200, had 202,725 net sq. ft. of exhibit space and drew 501 exhibitors and 10,526 attendees to McCormick Place. TelecomNEXT, ranked No. 125, had 215,700 net sq. ft. of exhibit space, 278 exhibitors and more than 10,000 attendees at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
