Live from New York, it's ISC EAST!

ISC was back in New York and better than before! The expo returned to New York after a tour of Washington, D.C., and Orlando, Fla. Dealers, integrators, end users and even some first responders from Boston to Washington D.C., made the trip to the Big Apple to see the latest and greatest that the security, burglar and fire alarm industry has to offer.

The excitement started for me even before the ribbon cutting. System Sensor, a division of Honeywell, hosted a wonderful reception at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square on Tuesday night before the show. Since it was election night, the city was alive with energy. Some of us even made the trek over to Rockefeller Plaza to take in all the happenings at Democracy Plaza.

Over 250 people rose early Wednesday morning to attend the NBFAA's opening breakfast event and had the privilege and honor to listen to the keynote speaker and a true American hero, FDNY Battalion Commander, Chief Richard Picciotto. Picciotto's spoke of his chilling account of how he and 13 others survived the collapse of the north tower of the World Trade Center. My words cannot describe his ordeal or those of his fellow firefighters, police officers or EMS responders. To learn more of his harrowing ordeal, you can purchase his new book, "Last Man Down: A Firefighter's Story of Survival and Escape from the World Trade Center."

I had the opportunity to speak to several exhibitors and attendees who were pleasantly surprised about the show. Richard Chace, executive director of SIA, knew that the stakes were very high for ISC show executives. They needed to prove that they could deliver and deliver they did! At press time, attendee numbers were still being tallied, but according to Chace, an historic 14,000 attendees had pre-registered for the show.

Chace also added that because the group focused on defining a clear target and goal, earlier marketing efforts, and strategic partnerships with several associations and key executives, ISC was able to raise the bar and exceed popular beliefs that the show would not be as large.

The Direct Word from ISC

"Show traffic has been steady and good. We've generated great leads and should be able to tie back between 10 to 15 actual sales from this show." -- Andrea Forconi, U.S. marketing manager, Metorex Security Products Inc., an OSI Systems Company