ASIS 2017 Cuts Day 3 Exhibits to 3 Hours

By John Honovich, Published Jun 14, 2017, 12:05pm EDT

The 3rd day of major trade shows are always the worst attended.

And with shows with poor traffic, like ASIS over the past few years, day 3 has been fairly silent, with sparse attendees and exhibitors checking their phones or talking to each other.

Now, ASIS 2017 is making a bold move, cutting the 3rd day's exhibits from 5 hours down to 3.

In this note, we examine the pros and cons of this move.

Day ****** / ****

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*** **** ********* ***** is **** *** ***** day *** **** ******* from **** - *** to **** **** - 1pm, **% ******* ***** for *** ***, ** shown *****:

Day * ******* - ***** *******

*** *** * ******* will ****** *********** ****** the ***** ** ******** with ******* ********* ***** required ** **** **** the **** *****.

*** ******* ******* **** be ***** *******, *** ***** ****** F-14 ****** *****, ********* by **** ** *******:

*** **** *** ****** to ** **** ******, based ** ******* ****'* ~** ***** reviews*** ****** ****** ***** ********* (~*,*** ** *******,~*,*** ** *********). *** **** ** **** recognition *** ****** ******** industry ********** **** ****** potential **********.

Pros - * ****

** *** ******** ****, ASIS **** ** ******* the ***** ** *** show ***** *** *** 3rd ***, ***** ***** the ********** *********, *** tend ** ** ****** end *****, **** **** to ** ** *** show *****, ********** *** chance ** **** ***** to ******.

****, *********** ********, ** that *** *******'******** **** **** *** into *** **** *****, ********* ******* ********* to **** ******* *** floor.

*******, **** **** **** closing *** **** ** 1pm **** **** ** easier / ****** *** those *********** *** ******* down *** ***** ** get *******.

Cons - * ****

*** ********* *** *** there ********* *** *** show *****, ******* ** extra *** *** **** only ****** * ***** reduces *** ***** ** even ***** *** *** day.

*** ********* *********, **** reduces *** ***** ** staffing *** *** ***. Already, *** *** *** is ********* ******* ** more ****** ********* **** senior **** *******. ******* *** 3rd *** ** * hours ***** ******** **** to ** **.

**** *********** ******* * vicious ***** ***** **** senior / ************* ********* staff ***** *** ********* staying *** *** *** day **** ********.

*******, ********** *** *** 3 **** *** *** the ***** * *** are *.* ***** *** the *** *** ** notably **** **** ****.

Vote / ****

Comments (23)

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Brian Karas

IPVM | 06/14/17 04:20pm

IMO, this is a bad move for ASIS. Sure, the junior employees who get left behind on the last days of a show, and the tear-down crew, will support this. 

From a marketing budget perspective, it is already getting hard to justify ASIS for many manufacturers, and this move just reduces the amount of time you have to meet with attendees. Once you are there, the costs to staff additional days/hours are pretty small in the grand scheme of things, now ASIS is basically devaluing manufacturer's marketing investment in exhibiting.

I support the move to start on Tuesday instead of Monday, that always seemed like a decision that reduced Day 1 traffic and worked against the goal of the show.

The keynote opening onto the show floor is an interesting move, but it has a very "exit through the gift shop" tone to me. If you have to force attendees onto the show floor, then you need to reevaluate things from the top.

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Nick Giannakis

In reply to Brian Karas | 06/15/17 03:17pm

Is there any chance this decision was motivated by some type of financial incentive from the expo site to shorten the even? I just can't wrap my head around another possible justification. You don't need to be a marketing expert to see that this move is damaging to the brand. As an ASIS member, I'm disappointed. 

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Nick Giannakis | 06/15/17 03:26pm

Is there any chance this decision was motivated by some type of financial incentive from the expo site to shorten the even?

ASIS says absolutely no.

Undisclosed Manufacturer #1

06/14/17 07:25pm

My concern would be that, by making the last day so short, they will have to contend with reduced attendance on the second day as well. I suspect a lot of attendees will just fly home on day 3.

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Adam Messina

ThinkReps | 06/14/17 07:31pm

I feel that if they can only justify 3 hours on day 3, they should cut it altogether.  2 full days is sufficient.

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Hans Kahler

Eagle Eye Networks
06/14/17 07:34pm

As an exhibitor I've always viewed day 3 as the day you check out the competition and/or look for a new job.  It will be interesting to see how this impacts that activity.

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Dori Ribak

RBtec Perimeter Security Systems
06/14/17 10:50pm

As an exhibitor this seems like a VERY bad move, you need to waste your time, money and another day at the hotel... It's like they admit day 3 is a complete waste but people paid for 3 days booth/hotel so they can't cut it all together.

 

We as a company decided to skip ASIS, i look forward to see what would be the attendance. 

Undisclosed

06/16/17 11:12pm

Other shows have short last days.  RSA for example.  After one round of failing to notice this one learns to check these things.  So I didn't think that was an issue.  Except for the fact we're ruining it by talking about it, I've found it easier to reach hard-to-find folks at the top of day 3 because everybody else has bailed.

Does the keynote matter?  Did you really drop 3 grand go to Dallas to listen to this weeks not-related-to-physical-security celebrity presenter?

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed | 06/17/17 12:06am

Does the keynote matter?

George W. Bush is the ASIS 2017 keynote Monday. I would imagine it would be packed. Of course, the exhibits do not start until Tuesday so that will have no impact on exhibits.

And I think the Wednesday one could have good relevant attendance - "Remembering Patriots’ Day: The Hunt for the Tsarnaev Brothers and the True Meaning of #BostonStrong" - since it will likely discuss how they used used technology, etc.

Though the Tuesday one (Scott Klososky - The Technology Integration of Man) I doubt will have much draw since he has low name recognition and not very relevant to ASIS attendees.

Thursday still to be announced though they claim it will be big, we'll see.

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Richard Lavin

Idibri Consulting
IPVMU Certified | In reply to John Honovich | 06/19/17 02:30am

"Thursday still to be announced though they claim it will be big, we'll see."

I'm speculating and trying to think of who would be a "big" get for them. The first name that popped into my mind would be former Dallas Chief of Police David Brown. He rose to national prominence after the Dallas police officers were killed during the BLM protests. He's now retired from the police force but is a consultant for ABC News, just started a new job with a security consulting firm, and just released an autobiographical book. He's been on the local news channels a lot recently publicizing his book. Just speculating on my part though. 

Chris Hammond

06/27/17 06:59pm

I have always found the third day to be a little easier to get a deeper dive into some of the products. It is certainly not a good day to make contacts with higher level people relative to resolving issues or making deals; however, the "junior" staff, or whoever is left on the third day, are usually competent enough to provide a solid demo and explanation of capabilities for their products. Often it is the local territory rep who does not have that flight to catch and they might be very experienced. 

That said, with this year being in Dallas, there usually are not that many flight choices past 4 or 5 PM for me so I would not stay much past 1 PM anyway. I certainly wouldn't stay another night just to get a couple more hours on the floor. 

Undisclosed Distributor #2

06/28/17 02:15pm

We've been having a lot of debates on whether to test the waters for the 1st time with a booth at ASIS. This move, combined with other factors, puts the nail on that coffin

John Honovich

IPVM | 07/25/17 03:08pm

UPDATE: ASIS has announced the Day 3 keynote will be Mark Cuban, tech entrepreneur, Shark Tank participant and Dallas Mavericks owner. Given the heavily male ASIS attendance, we would expect Cuban's sport and TV exposure would make him a good draw.

Cuban is local so that helps but his speaker fee has to be quite substantial so that's a big investment by ASIS to draw people in for day 3.

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Dori Ribak

RBtec Perimeter Security Systems
In reply to John Honovich | 07/25/17 03:16pm

Odd move, instead of creating value or unique offer interesting for security professionals they keep going with these selling gimmicks that i have no idea what contribute.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Dori Ribak | 07/25/17 03:31pm

Dori, who would like them to have? I agree, at one level, that having top flight security experts would be ideal.

However, I suspect ASIS is implicitly right that Cuban will draw significant attendance and, not unimportantly, people going from there to the show floor.

John Honovich

IPVM | 08/07/17 06:24pm

Correction: Cuban is coming but its Monday at lunch not Thursday keynote. My mistake. 

The Thursday keynote is still not announced though they say it is coming soon.

Undisclosed Manufacturer #3

08/07/17 10:51pm

Three hours?  That's no where near enough time to hand out resumes to all my competitors network with my peers.

John Honovich

IPVM | 08/12/17 06:37pm

The Day 3 keynote speaker will be Carey Lohrenz, the first female F-14 Tomcat pilot, described by ASIS as follows:

She does not appear to be that famous, based on her 2014 book's ~50 total reviews and modest social media followers (~6,000 on Twitter, ~2,000 on Instagram). The lack of name recognition and direct security industry experience will damper potential attendance.

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Ari Erenthal

In reply to John Honovich | 08/13/17 01:32am

She spoke at the ESX keynote lunch, too. She still needs to speak at ISC to hit the trifecta.  

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Dori Ribak

RBtec Perimeter Security Systems
08/25/17 05:21pm

So with all being said and a month before the trade show, do you guys think it's worth it? I'm wondering if to take one the last minute. 

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Brian Karas

IPVM | In reply to Dori Ribak | 08/25/17 05:26pm

Dori -

Do you mean as an exhibitor or as an attendee?

 

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Dori Ribak

RBtec Perimeter Security Systems
In reply to Brian Karas | 08/25/17 05:27pm

As an exhibitor.

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Brian Karas

IPVM | In reply to Dori Ribak | 08/25/17 06:27pm

I think a lot of that depends on how cheaply you can pull it off without making it look cheap. If you already have a nice booth/display (not just the standard 10' booth popup), can score a deal on one of the empty spaces, and have something that can really draw people in, you might be able to make it worthwhile.

My guess is that when you look at the total spend you would still have to make to make it worthwhile, it would be difficult to justify.

You may be able to find a partner who would let you feature your product in their booth, in exchange for some help offsetting the costs. 

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