Emerald Will No Longer Report Event Attendance Numbers
Once again, the industry gathered to celebrate the world of custom integration last month at the CEDIA Expo 2024 in Denver, Colorado. An annual event that is part business conference, part education/training confab, and part social get-together & party, many in the industry look forward to this one-time seminal event in anticipation of finding the seeds of future business growth in the innovation shown there.
This week, Emerald Expositions released the registration numbers for CEDIA Expo & Commercial Integrator Expo 2024 (CIX), but did not disclose the verified attendance number. At first, I thought this was an oversight…
See more on data from CEDIA Expo 2024…
As the industry trickled into the Colorado Convention Center last month, their old friend, the big blue bear, was there again peering into the convention center, perhaps searching for the latest electronic goodies to install in his den for the upcoming winter hibernation. So too was a tasty collection of the finest custom integration brands, top dealers, and professional integrators ready to see what’s new on display and to talk about business for the end of this year and into 2025.
Several Attendees Said Crowds Looked Smaller Than Last Year’s Event
By all accounts, attendees told me that Emerald Exposition, the owner of the CEDIA Expo, put on a serviceable show. Many told me they felt that the size of the crowd was – to their eyes – a little smaller than last year’s attendance. Multiple attendees told me that they felt like there was a little less energy and not quite as much “flash and dazzle” compared to 2023.
But overall, most I spoke with gave the event a thumbs up.
Keynote by Hollywood Director Barry Sonnenfeld
The keynote speaker at Expo 2024 was Hollywood director Barry Sonnenfeld, kind of an interesting choice of a creator to speak to the industry’s largest hardware-centric show. But overall, the keynote was well received.
CEDIA Expo 2024 and Commercial Integrator Expo 2024 were bustling with industry professionals experiencing the newest technology and learning about trends in the residential and commercial audiovisual industry. The event welcomed new exhibitors, a diverse array of attendees and plethora of opportunities to learn, explore and network. The growing value of hosting an event that bridges residential and commercial technology has proven to create valuable opportunities for collaboration between manufacturers, integrators and other industry service providers. We’re already gearing up for CEDIA Expo and CIX 2025 next September in Denver!
Jason McGraw, Emerald Group Vice President
Trends at Expo Included a Couple of Stunning Home Theaters; and Emerging Video Trends
Hardware trends included a couple of major home theater demonstrations – one from Trinnov, Perlisten, Officina Acustica, Barco, madVR, Kaleidescape, and Seymour Screen Excellence; and another from StormAudio, Seymour Screen Excellence, Ascendo Immersive Audio, Christie Digital, Moovia, and Lumagen. All reports are that these were both very impressive demos.
Video technologies were a focal point at this event, with new front projector lines from major brands like Sony, Epson, and JVC. I heard some particularly positive comments on the new JVC offerings, including its new DLA-NZ900 with its native 8K capabilities.
Also in the video realm multiple brands showed dazzling large-screen video and video wall presentations like AWOL Vision, Just Video Walls and more. And discussions surrounding MicroLED continue to grow as more manufacturers get behind the technology.
Emerald Releases Registration Numbers, Not Verified Attendance
Earlier this week, Emerald Expo released the registration numbers for Expo 2023. According to Emerald, this year total combined registrations came in at 15,200. This is the total number of folks who registered for both the CEDIA Expo and the Custom Integrator Expo.
This means that registrations were down slightly this year as compared to the 2023 version of the event. Last year, total combined registrations came in at 15,541, making this year’s registrations down by 2.2%.
Data Suggests Attendance May Have Been Smaller Than Last Year’s Event
Keep in mind, this is the registration number, NOT the attendance number. There is typically some fall-off between the number of registrations and the number of actual attendees, as people who initially signed up to have the option to attend, chose not to. Last year, for example, while registrations were at 15,541 the actual verified attendance came in at 12,848…a little over 17% less in actual attendees versus the number of people who registered.
I reached out to Emerald Expo to try and obtain the actual verified attendance numbers for this year’s event, as well as a breakdown of the numbers of attendees for CEDIA Expo versus those attending for CIX. Emerald Group Vice President Jason McGraw, responded to my questions and I am disappointed in what he had to say about the event’s verified attendance.
Emerald Will No Longer Report CEDIA Expo & CIX Attendance Numbers
McGraw responded to my questions via email and let me know that Emerald’s policies regarding reporting show results have – somewhat suspiciously – changed.
In response to your questions…we will…not be sharing our verified attendance information for this year’s show.
As Emerald is a public company, we have changed the way that we report overall attendance numbers to be aligned with other Emerald shows.
Regarding the split between CEDIA Expo and CIX, we can’t accurately give that split. We had many people register for one show and identified as being both residential and commercial, as well as exhibitors that were across both brands. We don’t want to misrepresent either sector so we will continue to communicate combined numbers. It is important to note that one of the primary purposes of CIX is to provide an experience for those people that cover both markets.
Jason McGraw
So we are left to try and ascertain the results from what we do know. Assuming we see the same fall-off between registrations and attendance this year as Emerald reported last year, that would suggest that the attendance at CEDIA 2024 was actually down from CEDIA Expo 2023…much like some of this year’s exhibitors and attendees had suggested to me.
Number of Exhibitors Was Up 18%
The show promoter notes that registrations for attendance came from all 50 states and over 20 countries. The combined shows “featured nearly 400 exhibitors.” Depending on how “near” to 400 that count actually is, this means that there were around 18% more exhibitors this year as compared to last year’s show at 340 exhibitors.
Emerald also noted that 31% of those registrants this year were newbies – visiting the show for the first time.
Learn more about CEDIA Expo by visiting cediaexpo.com.
“Figures don’t lie, but liars do figure.” Anonymous
CEDIA Expo 24 did feel lighter in attendance to my jaded perspective but the vendors I worked with felt very positive about their display attendance and dealer enthusiasm. I could be nostalgic but the CEDIA Expo felt more inclusive and responsive when it was owned and conducted by CEDIA.
Thanks for the good effort on reporting news about our industry.