Expo Seguridad Mexico dodges swine flu, continues with growth

If Expo Seguridad Mexico had been held one week later, it would have been canceled thanks to the outbreak of swine flu in the capital city that caused the government to essentially shut down the city.

Instead, and in spite of the worldwide economic crisis, Expo Seguridad Mexico continued to grow surpassing expectations and providing a well rounded convention filled with exhibitors, new products, conferences, important guests and a host of new ideas.

Well positioned as the premier security exhibition, seminar and conference program in Latin America, the seventh annual expo took place from April 21-23 at the Banamex convention center in Mexico City drawing more than 250 leading manufacturers, distributors, integrators and service providers and attracting 9,500 attendees compared to 8,100 in 2008.

The exhibition was launched by a special group of dignitaries that included Dra. Maria Elena Morera, honorary president of Mexico United Against Delinquency, General Carlos Ovidio Saavedra, Jefe de Operaciones Conjuntas de las Fuerzas Militares de Colombia, Luis Gonzalez, president de ALAS, Samuel Ordaz, director, Giprex and Andrea Ferrando, sales & marketing director, The inauguration was attended by an entourage of high ranking government, police and military personnel and a standing room only crowd.

There was something for everyone including end users, managers, presidents and technicians at the many conferences held during Expo Seguridad Mexico. Conference speakers included Dr. Morena, Luis Gonzalez, Carlos Guzman, Luis Orlando Bárcenas Reyes, Steve Hunt, Charlie Pierce, Richard Hahn and Ismael Almada. Topics ranged from technical to business to sales themes with seminars entitled Organizing Successful Alarm Monitoring Sales Teams, Security and Justice, The Real Challenges of a Security Company, Analog vs Digital CCTV (a lively and humorous debate between Pierce and Hunt), Creating Value with Security, Growth: An important Decision and How to Identify New Opportunities in the Credential Market.

In addition, Pierce donned a turban and was available for visitors to “Ask the Guru” questions relating to CCTV in a special booth which made it seem as if the convention had magically moved to Saudi Arabia or India. Exhibitors had the opportunity to give classes within the convention hall where they shared about new products, case studies and technical training.
A unique concept introduced this year were several discussion panels featuring a moderator and top manufacturers in the industry. The panels were divided into intrusion, access control, CCTV and fire. The intrusion paneled featured Bosch, GE, Honeywell, Optex and PIMA. In the access control panel, Bosch, GE, HID, Honeywell, PCSC and Scheider/TAC participated. The CCTV panel was held with Axis, Bosch, GE, Infinova, Pelco, Samsung GVI, Samsung Techwin, Sony and Vicon and the fire panel included Bosch, GE and Honeywell / Notifier.
A highlight of the convention was an emotional sharing of the behind the scenes happenings during Operation Jacque in Colombia, the rescue of the hostages, presented by General Saavedra, who was accompanied by Colonel Diego Yesid Sanchez Ruiz, military, naval and airforce attache of the Colombian Embassy in Mexico.
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This year for the first time, the United States embassy in Mexico worked with US companies to help them exhibit. Expo Seguridad Mexico, a certified show by the U.S. Department of Commerce, set up in a special pavilion were the U.S. companies received full support from translations to introductions.
The evening of April 22 was a special night combining the first annual Awards of Excellence Dinner and an auction to raise funds for Mission 500. The winners were: Pelco for best manufacturer; Syscom for best distributor, Logen for best integrator and Bosch for best social responsibility program.
Former Miss Mexico Lety Murray emceed the auction and helped motivate an audience of almost 300 people to rally behind the Mission 500 cause. Two well-known Mexican personalities, actress Evangelina Elizondo and Miguel Angel Cornejo, also participated in the auction and donated items.
Co-located with Expo Seguridad Mexico was the Mexico Safety Expo, which featured occupational safety and health products and solutions. Now in its second year, the expo attracted more than 3,000 visitors and leading manufacturers and distributors, a very healthy growth and Giprex, the show organizer expect to see a similar growth pattern to Expo Seguridad Mexico in the next few years. Because the two events were co-located there was a healthy crossover of attendees.