Well, ISE 2014 is nearing opening tomorrow morning. The rAVe  booth is up, but is the center of a construction area as the stands on either side of us are running late. So, as I sit here writing this, I am being coated in a fine layer of sawdust and can barely hear myself think. But that’s just the kind of thing we do to bring you the news as soon as it breaks.

This show is amazing. There will be just over 50,000 attendees, seeing exhibits in 12 convention halls. And EVERYONE (or nearly everyone) is here. Over the next three days, the rAVe crew will be blogging, tweeting, and shooting hundreds of videos in the booths (or “Stands” as they call them here), all so you can see every new exciting piece of hardware as it’s released. It’s the next best thing to being here, and you can get it all without freezing to death (it’s COLD in Amsterdam) and without sawdust.

Since the show is a joint venture, Infocomm and CEDIA are both here, and there is a massive amount of training going on. I talked this morning with Scott Wills, who runs Infocomm’s educational efforts here, and he said the response to education here has been phenomenal. Because it’s Infocomm’s 75th birthday, attendees are being given vouchers for two free training courses that are normally fairly costly, so there is a MUCH higher than usual response for a tradeshow.

I also ran into Duffy Wilbert, an Infocomm VP, who said both response and association membership were way up in Europe. When I asked by how much, he just smiled. Gee, thanks, Duffy. <grin>

This evening, I’ll be attending the VIP reception, and expect to get some podcast interviews with some of the execs from both associations, so watch for it on rAVe NOW.

 

JRR