How Long Will the ISC West Security Show Continue to Exist? Leave a comment

Like every year, International Security Conference (ISC) West, the biggest security exhibition in the United States, is next April. Many, if not all, manufacturers and distributors have low expectations for their return on investment. Re-sellers, integrators, dealers or installers, typical attendees of ISC West, are showing little to no interest in attending year by year.

ISC West security show was the annual release of new technology for manufacturers. Allowing integrators, dealers, and resellers to connect with new vendors and find the next new niche product to offer their customers. However, with the presence of the internet, lots of things have changed.

After years of attending, attendees have come to realize that it is possible to save time and money by searching for products online. Even sourcing for trustworthy manufacturers overseas such as China, has become easy with the presence of Alibaba and other B2B marketplaces.

The displaying of new technology with online video marketing has been more effective to attract new leads for manufacturers. Through online marketing, much higher exposure of the new products can be achieved in a shorter period of time compared to exhibits. Direct targeting to buyers can be done with the advancement in internet marketing. Less time, better return and off-course lower marketing costs compared to exhibiting at the shows.

Go around the booths at the ISC West and ask any exhibitor, they all agree that the return compared to the outrageous three day cost is not worth it. However, many manufacturers end up coming back every year just to show presence and name recognition. Returned exhibitors are the bigger public companies on the market; companies that have a lot of public money to spend. Unfortunately, not all exhibitors have that money available.

Year by year, the count of exhibiting distributors and small manufacturers is dropping. They realize it’s not beneficial as there are too many companies to compete against. As well as the hefty price of exhibiting and the continuous dropping of new attendees. This is why you will see many new companies popping up online and not see them at the exhibits.

This is not to sound all negative about exhibiting at trade shows, it definitely has its positive side. Meeting potential business partners face to face is more rewarding than email conversations. Touching and demoing the products yourself provides you with better experience to make better decisions. However, the question that is always asked, is it worth spending all this money and time? After doing your research online for a couple of hours can’t you just request for manufacturer reps to pay you a visit and demo the new products? Yes, off-course you can and that is why many other integrators/re-sellers and dealers are opting out from attending the exhibits.

The ISC West show and many other exhibits and will continue to be available for the coming years. However, all signs and predictions are indicative that they will not last for too long. With time, attendee count will keep dropping. Exhibitor counts will follow and keep declining until there comes a point where the big public companies supporting those shows realize its not worth it. ISC East show is ahead in that sense. It’s already at a point where it can hardly last for a couple more years.

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