Live from New York, it's ISC EAST!
ISC was back in New York and better than before! The expo returned to New York after a tour of Washington, D.C., and Orlando, Fla. Dealers, integrators, end users and even some first responders from Boston to Washington D.C., made the trip to the Big Apple to see the latest and greatest that the security, burglar and fire alarm industry has to offer.
The excitement started for me even before the ribbon cutting. System Sensor, a division of Honeywell, hosted a wonderful reception at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square on Tuesday night before the show. Since it was election night, the city was alive with energy. Some of us even made the trek over to Rockefeller Plaza to take in all the happenings at Democracy Plaza.
Over 250 people rose early Wednesday morning to attend the NBFAA's opening breakfast event and had the privilege and honor to listen to the keynote speaker and a true American hero, FDNY Battalion Commander, Chief Richard Picciotto. Picciotto's spoke of his chilling account of how he and 13 others survived the collapse of the north tower of the World Trade Center. My words cannot describe his ordeal or those of his fellow firefighters, police officers or EMS responders. To learn more of his harrowing ordeal, you can purchase his new book, "Last Man Down: A Firefighter's Story of Survival and Escape from the World Trade Center."
I had the opportunity to speak to several exhibitors and attendees who were pleasantly surprised about the show. Richard Chace, executive director of SIA, knew that the stakes were very high for ISC show executives. They needed to prove that they could deliver and deliver they did! At press time, attendee numbers were still being tallied, but according to Chace, an historic 14,000 attendees had pre-registered for the show.
Chace also added that because the group focused on defining a clear target and goal, earlier marketing efforts, and strategic partnerships with several associations and key executives, ISC was able to raise the bar and exceed popular beliefs that the show would not be as large.
The Direct Word from ISC
"Show traffic has been steady and good. We've generated great leads and should be able to tie back between 10 to 15 actual sales from this show." -- Andrea Forconi, U.S. marketing manager, Metorex Security Products Inc., an OSI Systems Company
"Two days is perfect for this show. Overall we've garnered good leads and as we are into the second day of the show, traffic has remained strong. My only recommendation would be to better communicate and shorten the hours of the show next year." -- Keith Kanestrin, marketing manager for security products, Panasonic
"Reed did an excellent job in their return to NYC. I've been pleasantly surprised at the high volume of traffic and quality leads from both dealers and end-users." -- D. Scott Howell, manager of worldwide marketing, Hirsch Electronics
"We're so glad to be back in New York and extremely pleased that everything's worked out as well as it has. Overall we're pleasantly surprised!" -- June Colegreco, marketing director, Nexwatch/Northern (a Honeywell division)
"Traffic was surprisingly strong; the quality of the attendee was good, and everyone is glad that ISC East is back in NY." -- Judy Jones, director of marketing, NAPCO Security Group
"ISC East has turned into a regional show at a national price. This year's dates were tough because there was a competing GE User Conference, therefore some could not attend." -- Vareel Lakhani, The Reliable Group
"I've never seen traffic at our booth like this ever before. The first day I was extremely busy all day, show traffic has been steady on the second day as well. Overall we've been very pleased with the results of ISC's efforts." -- Tonya Jenkins, director of business development, NBFAA
Dean Russo, vice president and show manager, of ISC Expos explained why it was time to bring the show back to New York.
"There were several key strategic reasons why we decided to bring ISC East back to New York," said Russo. "The most important were the venue itself and our prior success. Sometimes we lose sight that the New York region has so much to offer in terms of being one of the biggest regions for security installing and corporate security professionals. We can attribute this year's success in large part to our strong partnerships and relationships with our friends at SIA, the NBFAA, state and local associations. With the help and hard work of Dale Eller, NYBFA Executive Director, this year's show has surpassed all of our goals."
The ISC East show returns to New York in 2005 for two days, Aug. 24-25.
ISC New & Noteworthy Product
The AP1337 Carephone from TeleAlarm is a personal emergency response (PERS) device made in Switzerland, in the same region where Rolex watches are manufactured with the same precision and care. The AP1337 is able to work with four wireless devices and three hard-wired zones. According to Ron Bodnar, vice president of sales and marketing, they've had great success with the AP 1337 in Europe and are looking forward to introducing it to the U.S. market. For more info: (888) 483-0888, ext. 198.
About the author: Peter Harlick is associate publisher of Security Technology & Design and Security Dealer magazines and regular correspondent to SecurityInfoWatch.com.
