ISE Live and Online overcomes COVID challenge
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Mike Blackman, managing director of Integrated Systems Events, said: “It’s been an incredibly challenging 18 months for events. Thankfully, at ISE, we have an amazing team and like so many in our industry, we wanted to keep pushing forward. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved with ISE Live & Online – 3,000 in-person visitors to the live events and the debut of ISE Digital a rich content resource which will remain accessible for months to come – it’s not been an easy ride, but we did it and we did it for the right reasons.”
ISE @ London welcomed visitors across two days to experience in-person networking in a safe environment and feedback has been positive.
“We wanted to take part in ISE London predominantly for the opportunity to meet in-person and the ability to physically introduce products to customers, the best way for our customers to understand our products is to see and experience it in person. For me personally, the highlight was re-connecting with old friends and meeting new industry contacts,” commented Christopher Kmiec, director of performance screens, an AudioTek Company.
“It’s been an incredibly tough eighteen months not only for our industry but for every single person that has a place in it. For us it was really important to be here not just to show products but to show ISE and the wider industry support. It’s easy to come here when things are going great and the good times are rolling, but when times are tough we need to ensure we’re looking out for each other,” said James Hill, director, integrated systems, Shure.
With a busy main stage, curated meeting opportunities and an exhibition floor featuring 20+ leading brands, including, DTEN/Zoom, Barco, Nexmosphere/Brightsign, LANG, Panasonic, Shure, Ring, Jabra, Biamp, Igloo Vision, Snap AV/Control4, Wolfvision, Logical Solutions, Jetbuilt, Taylorleds/AudioTek and Ashton Bentley, there was plenty to experience.
Ben Barnard, regional manager AVIXA UK & Ireland shared insight from the commercial AV industry: “The live events industry has been really hard hit by the pandemic and could take longer to recover, whereas for manufacturing, distribution and integration it seems to be a lot more positive.”
Mike Blackman concluded: “For the AV community ISE is somewhere to come together, make meaningful connections and drive our industry forward. With ISE Live and Online we have managed to reconnect and build momentum once again and that is what we call success. It’s now full steam ahead for ISE 2022 in Barcelona.”
