After the Danish capital, the Roadshow returns to Warsaw on 19 October and to Prague three days later. On October 24th it visits Vienna for the first time, before finishing its journey in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, on Friday October 26th. This year’s event coincides with AV Week, a series of worldwide events devised by InfoComm International to celebrate the best in the audiovisual industry.
Designed to bring a flavour of audiovisual technology and electronic systems integration to some of Europe’s emerging markets, the Integrated Systems Roadshow will retain its successful formula of a hotel-based event, featuring manufacturer training sessions and a tabletop tradeshow. Admission is free, but is restricted to trade-only visitors.
With six weeks to go before the Roadshow gets under way, exhibitor numbers are already 50% up on last year, reflecting the growth of Integrated Systems Europe and assuring visitors of an enriched array of technologies in each city. AMX, Crestron, Extron, DaLite Screen Company and Christie Digital are all confirmed as Platinum sponsors for 2007.
Rob Robinson, marketing director of Stardraw, is just one of the vast majority of 2006 participants to have rebooked for next month’s event. “Last year’s Roadshow was incredibly productive for us,” said Robinson. “We’re looking for the top end of systems integrators in the commercial and residential marketplaces, and that is exactly what the event delivered. We had no hesitation in signing up as Silver sponsors again.”
After analysing feedback from both exhibitors and visitors, the Roadshow’s organisers have made subtle but significant changes to the format for 2007. Training sessions are now slightly longer and fewer in number – a move welcomed by Stardraw. “The new format will give attendees more time to browse the tradeshow area,” said Robinson. “That’s important for us, because we produce software solutions that are not off-the-shelf items; people need time to interact with them to see how they can put them to use in their business. In short, we like to ‘press the flesh!'”
Another innovation this year is Association-led training to complement the manufacturer seminars. InfoComm, for example, is offering a module from its Academy Design School entitled ‘Designing For Optimum Projected Image Quality’. The session will be led by Greg Jeffreys of Paradigm AV in Copenhagen, and InfoComm’s Scott Wills on the rest of the tour.
Among the many new exhibitors confirmed for 2007 is one of eight Gold sponsors, projectiondesign, for whom Anders L_kke (pictured), marketing and communications manager, commented: “We are always looking at ways in which we can get closer to our customers, and the Roadshow looks like a great way of doing that. The format of manufacturer training combined with a small tradeshow gives us the opportunity to have something for everybody – both existing customers and potential new ones. It’s an event we are really looking forward to.”
Also new to the Roadshow this year is Lab.gruppen. Tim Chapman, the audio amplifier maker’s Head of Marketing, describes the event as “a gorgeous, cost-effective opportunity to take our product line to countries where there is no trade show addressing the installation sector – which, for us, is the market that is growing the fastest.”
And Stardraw’s Robinson believes that this year’s ‘tour dates’ offer plenty of potential. “Warsaw and Prague were both excellent in 2006,” he said, “while Denmark and Austria, though small, are both very sophisticated markets. As for Zagreb, it is exciting simply because that part of Europe is new to us.”