NORWALK, Conn. — Besides attendees and exhibitors, a thief has been invited to this year’s International Security Conference (ISC) East, but there’s no reason for alarm.
Ex-con Jon Douglas Rainey, co-host of the Discovery Channel’s “It Takes a Thief,” will discuss the program, home invasion misconceptions and best security practices in the show’s keynote during the Aug. 24 and 25 expo at New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center. With him will be the show’s security consultant, Frank Santamorena, a physical security professional (PSP) with ASSA ABLOY Americas’ Integrated Solutions Specialist Program (ISS Team).
Security Sales & Integration is the official media sponsor of the “It Takes a Thief” presentation (see “Publisher’s Perspective” on page 6), which takes place at 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 24.
“We’re looking to really maximize their presence,” says Dean Russo, industry vice president for Reed Exhibitions, which organizes the ISC events with the Security Industry Association (SIA). “This is something that is noteworthy and newsworthy. Companies that weren’t going to exhibit in the show are now interested because of this program.”
Russo adds that while the format and layout of this year’s show is the same as 2004, he expects a 10- to 15-percent increase in the number of exhibitors with an expected attendee count of 9,000.
Considering the housing prices there, Manhattan would seem to be the last place to be among the “common folk.” Yet, it’s one of the main things that separate ISC East from its bigger brethren — ISC West and the ASIS Int’l Expo.
While the bigger shows usually draw the “higher-ups” in management from alarm companies and integrators, ISC East brings out more of those who toil day to day in control panels, including those who don’t have the time or disposable income to fly off to Las Vegas or ASIS. That gives the Big Apple show a bigger bite of those who truly drive the industry from the inside than other shows might.
“What we found about East that is different than West is a lot of the salespeople that don’t necessarily have the chance to travel to Vegas do have the chance to come to ISC East,” says Russo. “From a dealer standpoint, West draws primarily the owner/V.P. level from dealer companies. What we’re finding is East is getting what may be a lower level in status, but still important to the industry.”
That disparity means ISC East can offer a feature that neither ISC West or ASIS can offer: Training sessions directly from the manufacturer. The Manufacturer Training Program features product-specific training from Honeywell Security, NAPCO Security, Linear and DSC, among others.
What makes manufacturer-direct training more feasible at ISC East is attendees are more likely to be directly working with the products than attendees at ISC West.
“You couldn’t pull off the Manufacturer Training Program at the West show because the owners wouldn’t be interested in that,” says Russo.
For a more detailed look at this year’s ISC East, including an exclusive interview with Rainey and Santamorena, see next month’s issue of SSI.
