ISC Events Directors Give the Scoop on ISC East 2005

May 19, 2005
Security Dealer's publisher Peter Harlick catches up with Dean Russo and Matt Logan as they plan for ISC East 2005

On the heels of an extremely productive and well-attended ISC West show, it's time to turn attention eastward. Peter Harlick, publisher of Security Dealer, recently sat down with ISC Events Vice President Dean Russo and ISC Events Marketing Director Matt Logan to discuss the upcoming ISC East show, a production from Reed Exhibitions from Norwalk, Conn.

Following some geographic moves, the "East" again returned to New York City in November of last year, and this year's expo follows the same track. With three main airports, five key bridges, three vital tunnels, cargo and port facilities, historical landmarks, tourist attractions, professional sports arenas, mass transit hubs and tunnels, power and water plants, the nation's largest fire and police departments, and headquarters of the world's financial markets, it's no wonder why ISC East is back in New York City. Mark your calendars for Aug. 24-25 at the Javitts Center and get more details from the SecurityInfoWatch.com events calendar.

Here's what Russo and Logan had to say about 2005's "East":

Harlick: How are things shaping up for ISC East?

Russo: Things are shaping up well. The ISC East attendee campaign is just launching now, and in terms of pre-registered attendees we are already ahead of last year at 15 weeks out from the show. Our attendance goal is 9,600 industry professionals, up from 8,500 in 2004. In terms of exhibitors we realized significant exhibitor interest in ISC East at this year's ISC West event. At this point we are 7 percent ahead of last year in terms of booked exhibitor companies. With both attendee and exhibitor interest high so far in advance of the show, ISC East is shaping up to be another success.

How has the marketplace reacted to you moving the show from November to August?

Russo: The ISC East event had always been scheduled in the month of August when the event was in New York. When the industry called for us to move the event back to NYC last year, we were not able to secure our original August dates so we settled for November which also turned out to be successful. But, the show historically was scheduled in August and all preliminary numbers indicate it is not an issue for exhibitors or attendees.

Have you received the same support from SIA and the local burglar and fire alarm associations to drum up support as you did last year?

Russo: SIA, as our event sponsor, plays a key role in providing support to and from the community of manufacturers - our exhibitors. NBFAA is also once again a key endorser of the ISC East event and plays a pivotal role in promoting and supporting ISC East to their membership of dealer/integrators, a key attendee segment at our ISC event. Our relationship with the NBFAA has helped us to once again forge partnerships and support from most of their local and regional arms including NYBFAA, CBFAA, NJBFAA, PBFAA, NEAC and more. Since we are in New York City, the NYBFAA will once again be playing a large role in both promoting the East event and supporting us on a local and regional basis. All of these relationships translate into widespread support from across the industry. Much of the success from last year's ISC East event can be attributed to the ongoing support from these industry associations.

What can we expect to see this year that we didn't see last year?

Logan: Due to the success of the 2004 East event, we are seeing a number of new exhibitors taking part in the event this year. We have representation from the majority of the larger manufacturers/distributors like Honeywell, Pelco, ADI, Panasonic, NAPCO, etc., as well as a large number of new companies that are using ISC East as the launching pad for their new products and services. We are offering a manufacturer training program that will be enhanced this year with participation from a number of key manufacturers including Honewell, HID, Samsung/GVI, NAPCO, Firelite, Lumenera, Home Automation, HID, Mitsubishi and more. Last year we launched the program with 12 manufacturers taking part and over 350 attendees; this we are tacking to exceed that.

Seeing how time tends to be the new currency, what have you done to better connect the attendees and exhibitors?

Logan: As a matter of fact, a great new enhancement that both exhibitors and attendees can take advantage of, and that directly relates to the ISC East strategy of adding value to the overall show experience, will be an alliance we formed with a company, BD Metrics. BD Metrics gathers people, products and knowledge based on your personal needs. ISC East exhibitors and attendees now have the ability to connect in advance of the event and schedule meetings for the show, identify seminars they need to attend, and pick the products they want to see. This intelligence agent sifts the entire community of ISC East 2005 registrants and makes highly targeted connections that help maximize the show experience.

What can we as an industry do to raise the level of awareness, attendance and perception of the ISC East show?

Logan: The ISC East event last year once again solidified itself as an industry event that delivers a clear value for both our attendees and our exhibitors. It is currently the third largest security event in the United States behind No. 1 ISC West and No. 2 ASIS, delivering a unique and unduplicated audience from these other two events. For example only 5 percent of the 9,000 industry professionals at ISC East attend the ISC West event. And we had roughly 22,000 people on the ISC West show floor this year -- that means our exhibitors at ISC East experience a 95 percent unduplicated audience over two days at ISC East.

I think the industry once again realizes that ISC East will play a key role in providing a networking, educational, and meaningful business purpose. Our goal has always been to offer the security professionals an event that works to deliver value and helps to continually advance the industry.

What new marketing initiatives have you implemented this year?

Logan: We are looking to provide our exhibitors with a larger variety of free marketing tools prior to the event, including our new Evite program: an electronic email invitation, exhibitor postcard program, and electronic banner program. We want to make sure our exhibitors have every opportunity to maximize there presence at the event by inviting their best prospects and customers. Again, the ISC Events have always been about providing a gathering place for the industry, so it's important that our customers have every opportunity to maximize their presence at the event. We will continue to diversify the mix of attendees to deliver an even mix of dealers, integrators, and end users. Last year's ISC East event strategy helped to deliver a great cross-section of the industry and allowed the industry to see and network with every sector of security.

Lastly, we will once again focus on delivering the majority of our buyers from the Northeast/East Coast region. Our campaign strategy has the bulk of our resources allocated to attracting security professionals from the Northeast. We want our exhibitors to have the opportunity to present their products and services to industry professionals from a region with one of the highest concentration of security buyers in the country.