ASIS Takes Security Industry for a Ride Just Outside Disneyland

While many found the three-day expo productive and courses were well attended, just as many were left wanting more.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Thousands of security industry professionals took part in the 61st ASIS Int’l Seminar and Exhibits here this week for an event that featured more than 600 exhibits, 200 seminars and presentations, and numerous networking and social festivities. Staged adjacently to Disneyland, the overall atmosphere was upbeat and positive – even if the general tone was subdued and absent of a tangible buzz throughout the three-day expo. The only real thrills and fireworks took place nightly courtesy of the Magic Kingdom.

Apart from some notable exceptions, most electronic security-oriented booths were sparsely populated by attendees and vendors almost universally expressed their disappointment to Security Sales & Integration, which estimates the expo attendance at 15,000-18,000. As is usually the case, the second day was the busiest, followed by the opening day and then the final day in which many high level exhibitor executives and attendees have already departed. Although there were not many courses geared toward dealers/installers, the sessions reportedly were well attended (which didn’t help the show floor since they were concurrent with the exhibition).

RELATED: Check Out SSI‘s Slideshow From ASIS 2015

This annual show, which had perhaps even briefly surpassed spring’s ISC West as the largest when it boasted closer to 1,000 booths and 25,000 participants, has apparently never fully regained its footing following the recession. More recent editions in cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta and now Anaheim have failed to recapture that glory. In fact, grumblings specifically bemoaned the 2015 location as being unappealing and too difficult to get to. Several industry professionals SSI spoke with suggested the event should either pack it in altogether by leaving it to ISC West Las Vegas to carry the torch or stop moving around so much and settle on a universally popular locale – maybe becoming the second half of the year’s Vegas fixture.

This annual show, which had perhaps even briefly surpassed spring’s ISC West as the largest when it boasted closer to 1,000 booths and 25,000 participants, has apparently never fully regained its footing following the recession.

As it stands, the overwhelming majority of new product introductions occur at ISCW, with ASIS’ offerings mostly being those that were not ready in time for the springtime unveiling. However, some manufacturers do use the ASIS event as an opportunity to provide a glimpse or products on the horizon – typically to be launched at ISCW.

RELATED: Check Out SSI’s Complete Coverage of ASIS 2015

Now this scenario is applicable to security dealer/integrator-focused vendors and not necessarily to the non-electronic security-oriented exhibitors, which are beyond SSI‘s focus and audience. It’s pertinent to note as well that’s really the core of ASIS’ market since it is primarily a commercial/industrial end-user trade organization, and so at least half the exhibitors catered to that audience. In fact, part of the attraction for a good deal of channel products suppliers is gaining exposure to those end users to generate pull-through sales and greater brand awareness for their wares at the end-user level. Because of that, many judge the value of exhibiting at ASIS rather subjectively, rather than quantitatively based on hard lead generation.

Bosch had one of the more active booths at ASIS in terms of traffic.

Vendor booths with the heaviest ASIS floor traffic included Samsung, Milestone and Bosch, while large installation and service providers like Diebold, Stanley and Protection 1 kept busy entertaining key customers and prospects. Perhaps 2016 will see a renaissance of this event as it was announced during the show that next year’s installment will be held in Orlando, Fla., with the expo set for Sept. 12-15. It’s bound to be more robust than this year’s incarnation; if not, it may settle back into its original slant as being more of a niche end-user event rather than all-encompassing security industry convention. 

Be sure to check back with SSI for as more detailed reports about what these and many other vendors displayed and promoted at ASIS 2015 are posted.

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About the Author

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Scott Goldfine is the marketing director for Elite Interactive Solutions. He is the former editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He can be reached at [email protected].

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