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If trade show attendance can be used as a barometer of the health of a particular industry, then the forecast for the broadcast, media and communications business is less gloomy than many would have you believe.
The region's very own CABSAT, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the behemoth that is NAB are upon us, and so far the outlook, for these key events, is genuinely positive.
Some may point to Quantel's recent decision to pull out of NAB as an indicator of an impending collapse.
But in the past year Quantel and high-profile end users such as Dreamworks, have been leveraging 3D technology to great effect. This buzz has even been picked up by the mainstream press creating a self perpetuating promotional machine. This sort of publicity is priceless and Quantel has done an excellent job of ensuring that it benefitted from some of the spotlight shining on 3D production.
The industry had similar doom mongering when Apple dropped out of NAB 2008 (pre-economic slowdown). This decision was based less on any perceived failing of NAB, but more to do with the fact that Apple - as the company said at the time - had established a chain of retail stores and a web portal that connected it with 100 million professionals.
However, Quantel and Apple are special cases, and the vast majority of exhibitors at any of the three big shows would not consider missing out.
On the local front, 80 percent of last year's CABSAT exhibitors rebooked on site for the 2009 edition. The show has also broken its own record for attracting new exhibitors (there will be 60 debutants this year) and the 2009 instalment will feature more floor space than last year.
Ultimately, the trade show looks set to remain a key date on the calendar for most, even if this year's event may be a slightly trimmed down instalment of previous affairs.
Pessimistic elements within the press have suggested that reduced corporate travel will lead to lower footfall at trade shows across all sectors, as companies ruthlessly cut staff from their travel plans and opt to take only the most essential employees.
That may sound ominous, however in the run-up to IBC 2008 I was mistakenly included on the internal emails of a medium-sized exhibitor. I was sent the hotel allocation list and there were more than 50 representatives of that company in Amsterdam.
If this number were limited to only essential sales and marketing staff would the company have generated less business? Would the smaller companies that sought to do business with them, have been unable to garner any sales? It is doubtful.
John Parnell is the deputy editor of Digital Broadcast.
