The show's attendance miss wasn't a surprise. In the days immediately following the show, 61 percent of the readers who took our poll estimated that there were fewer than 15,000 attendees at the show, while 18 percent guessed 15,000 to 17,000. In all, only 12 percent of those polled felt the show hit its target of more than 20,000 attendees. (See NXTcomm Numbers and Poll Sees Low NXTcomm Numbers.)
"I think the consolidation in the carrier community certainly doesn't help the overall numbers," says NXTcomm executive director Wayne Crawford.
Crawford says that, while he would not characterize the attendance numbers as a disappointment, he would have liked to see more people attend the show.
"I think we accomplished what we really wanted to, which was reunify the industry and present a good product. We had good turnout from the Tier 1 carrier community, which Globalcomm did not," he asserts.
Next year, NXTcomm will move to Las Vegas and will be collocated with Infocomm -- a show that expects 30,000 attendees of its own. Will this move provide a needed shot in the arm for NXTcomm?
"I think the show will have a different makeup of attendees," says Crawford, noting that one of the reasons for moving the show to Las Vegas is to attract the technology crowd in Northern California. He acknowledges that the show is definitely moving beyond its traditional roots.
"We need to work to broaden the reach of the show beyond just a wireline telephony show for the telco carriers," says Crawford, adding that cable MSOs, while not yet significantly represented at the show, are starting to pay attention to the event.
turing, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:04:12 PM
re: NXTcomm Figures Fall Short They have only themselves to blame.
Mistake #1) split Supercomm into 2 shows over political in-fighting, when the industry clearly only needed/wanted one show.
Mistake #2) combine them again, but instead of using the known and popular brand name "Supercomm", they use a new unknwon brand "NXTcomm". (marketing geniuses they're not)
Mistakes #3) blame the industry consolidation instead of their own product. In other words they're blaming the customer for not making the show successful.
LEDzeppelin, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:04:11 PM
re: NXTcomm Figures Fall Short Seriously, is there any real reason to go to these events other than to obviously get away from the office for a trip on the company coin?
Stevery, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:04:11 PM
re: NXTcomm Figures Fall Short LEDzeppelin: Seriously, is there any real reason to go to these events other than to obviously get away from the office for a trip on the company coin?
Hello? To circulate your resume and network for the next job. Duh.
PS. Love your handle. I can't wait to see the associated song titles.
turing, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:04:10 PM
re: NXTcomm Figures Fall Short I think co-locating it with Infocommm is meaningless. You might as well co-locate it with CES. There is virtually no overlap in attendees, vendors, or topic/focus. Heck why not just co-locate it with the AEE (Adult Entertainment Expo)? I bet attendance for NXTcomm would go up then.
Co-locating with CTIA or a cable show (SCTE?) would have made sense. Or even with Interop (formerly Networld+Interop) would have been interesting.
Pete Baldwin, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:04:10 PM
re: NXTcomm Figures Fall Short Agreed, Infocomm is such a non-sequitur of a matchup. I guess the only thing they have in common is that neither one could fill an LVCC hall by itself.
As long as we're going for random pairings, I'd have to vote for ComicCon.
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