To expand the scope and attendance of the PSA-TEC trade show, Reed Exhibitions will shift the venue and mount a more aggressive marketing effort, the events organizer tells SSI.

The moves are designed to help the show reach a broader audience of integrators, as well as PSA Security Network members, says Ed Nichols, Reed’s industry vice president, ISC Events.

PSA Security handed the promotion and organization of the show to Reed a week ago, stating that the company responsible for ISC West and ISC East would bring a fresh approach to a show known for its technical and training orientation.

Nichols says Reed would not alter this “core competency” of the show.

“What made this such a complementary agreement was [for Reed] to take what the PSA Network is already doing and simply put it on a larger stage,” Nichols says. “What makes PSA-TEC work now is the quality of the training, the intimacy to network and the core value of the event. In no way are we trying to make this ISC Chicago.”

PSA Security will continue to develop the content for PSA-TEC’s certification-oriented technical training, and may expand business-management offerings, Nichols says.

The latter would be a welcome addition, says Hal Lewis, owner of Alarms Unlimited in San Diego.

“There are other elements they could add to expand it,” Lewis says. “From the technician’s point of view, they are saturated. Whereas at ISC, [the training] is fluff. With PSA-TEC, these are meat and potatoes [workshops].”

One of the first changes Reed made was to shift the venue to Rosemont from St. Charles, Ill. The new venue is four minutes from O’Hare Int’l Airport by car, instead of a 45-minute drive west.

Scheduled for May 24-28, the event will also no longer conflict with the CSAA/ESA (formerly NBFAA)-owned ESX show, which will be held in June in Pittsburgh.

The exhibitor will aim to increase attendance – the 2009 event (which SSI served as Elite Media Sponsor) drew 700 – from integrators and recruit additional manufacturers, Nichols says.

Larry Pitts of Electronic Security Systems in Amarillo, Texas, has been attending the PSA-TEC show each year since the early 1980s. The show’s training and hands-on product demos have made it a priority.

“The number of shows we can attend it limited due to finances,” Pitts says. “We try to attend ISC West and PSA-TEC every year. With the PSA show, the scope has been access control and cameras, and very little on fire alarms and burglar systems.”

To watch exclusive interviews at the 2009 PSA-TEC, visit SSItv.

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