You’ve got to like it when a trip goes better than anticipated. Who would have known that row 35 on Delta Flt 165 from JFK to LAX was in effect a bulkhead as a result of seat spacing? The middle seat I was dreading ended up being one of the most comfortable seats I have ever had.

Thursday morning started with a run – my first run outside since early December – as I’m training for the NYC Half Marathon in March. My course took me along LAX, and as I ran literally beneath wide-bodied planes landing from overnight flights, I thought about how much my 3-year old would appreciate this experience. A treat for him is going to the regional airport near us to watch young pilots doing touch-and-go’s in their Cessna’s on the weekend.

Next, I met with the Inland Empire Chapter of the IAHSS at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland, CA. Despite the daunting name (brought me back to my history class and thoughts of the Ottoman Empire), the group was very pleasant and very interested to hear about the end-user education we have planned at the newly branded ISC Premier Education Series at ISC West this year in Vegas. My thanks to Darren Morgan, Security Director at San Antonio Community Hospital (with me in picture), and Stuart ‘Fletch’ Fletcher, Corporate Director of Public Safety at Catholic Healthcare West, and President of the Inland Empire Chapter, for having me. It was an energetic meeting and one of the best attended IAHSS regional meetings I have been to with over 30 people.

I then met with the security team with the Office of General Services in LA. After a tour of their facility and a discussion about ISC West, it was off to the airport for the red-eye back to New York. Good news – I was able to get a bulkhead seat for the flight back. Bad news – those of us who call NY our home airport are a pretty aggressive bunch on flights. Very Darwinian!!!

Recently, I have broadened my responsibilities to include taking personal ownership of ISC's high-value targeted attendee program. Let me tell you what this is all about. The program is the development of creating a productive and satisfying experience for senior-level security end-users who have not yet experienced the ISC events. Simply put, we want to fulfill the needs of security end-user professionals by offering them the networking, product preview and education that helps them develop both professionally and personally.

My goal is to reach out to about 400 security end-users – which frankly I think we will easily surpass. As I talk to and visit with senior security professionals, I am hearing that their budgets ARE coming back, that projects are moving forward – particularly in health care and retail – and that ISC West continues to be the best opportunity for security professionals to source and compare technologies, products and brands. Of specific interest to date has been video surveillance, access control and greater knowledge for IP. All of these topics are covered at www.iscwest this year at the ISC Premier Educational Series, April 5-7 in Las Vegas.

As I continue to visit with many of you, please stay connected to my travels and follow me here on this blog and on Twitter @iscvp. I will provide updates on who is exhibiting, who is attending and what we are doing in the coming weeks leading up to the show. If you have a question, please feel free to reach out to me directly at enichols@reedexpo.com, or to begin a conversation for the broader group on our LinkedIn group, ISC Events.

Now off to Los Angeles for some meetings…..flying in a middle seat – both ways!! Stayed tuned – I’ll let you know how it goes.

California Alarm Association Annual Convention a Hit!

...I just returned from San Francisco from what looks to be my last trip of the year. ISC annually attends and supports the California Alarm Association’s Annual Convention – an event that has certainly grown beyond its geographic boundaries and truly serves as the last time for the Who’s Who in the security manufacturer and distribution markets to see one another before ISC West the following year. This year’s event appeared to be one of the biggest on record – certainly the largest I’ve attended – with over 300 people in attendance.

Congratulations for the success of the event certainly goes to California Alarm Association’s Executive Director, Jerry Lenander. In addition to his marketing consulting business, Syncomm, Jerry has been the Executive Director for the CAA for over 10 years and is personally responsible for the Annual Convention. With the help of strong member leadership, Jerry and his team have taken the event from a state supporting end-of-year event, to the alarm event for the western United States in the 4th quarter of the year. This year’s Keynote speaker was California Attorney General Jerry Brown, rumored by many to be making a run for Governor in the next election. Honored this year with the George A. Weinstock Award for his lifetime of service to the California Alarm Association was George DeMarco, founder and CEO of the Greater Alarm Company. Among the many in attendance were Richard Chace, CEO of the Security Industry Association (SIA), Ralph Sevinor, President of the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA), and Mike Miller, President of the Electronic Security Association (ESA).

I’d also like to congratulate Matt Westphal, President of the California Alarm Association, and 3rd generation with Bay Alarm. The growth and success of both this event and the association has been in no small part due to Matt’s efforts.

This is my last blog for the year – I hope you’ve enjoyed them; thanks for reading them. Happy Holidays to you and yours from everyone at ISC!

Ed Nichols
Industry Vice President
Reed Exhibitions
ISC Events
203 840-5968
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Are we meeting the needs of Security End Users?

...In reading this month’s industry trade journals, I was particularly drawn to Laura Stepanek, Editor of SDM Magazine’s, ‘Editor’s Angle’ with Lisa Roy, Vice President for Global Security and Fire Safety Solutions, with Johnson Controls. In her first question, Laura asks Ms. Roy if she feels that the security systems integration industry as a whole is meeting the needs of end users right now. Ms. Roy’s response, to paraphrase, is that today’s security end user is increasingly frustrated with the way security solutions are sold and delivered. While she feels that the industry has made progress in some areas, overall she feels that the industry has more work to do.

This was echoed by Lynn Mattice, former CSO at Boston Scientific and current Chairman, Board of Advisors, for the Security Executive Council, at the first-ever State of the Industry discussion panel at ISC East last month. Participating in the panel were Mike Miller, President of ESA (formerly NBFAA), Bill Bozeman, President and CEO of the PSA Security Network, Gordon Hope, Senior Vice President with Honeywell and current Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Security Industry Association (SIA), as well as Mr. Mattice. What Lynn was saying in representing the end user perspective on the panel, is that he feels that our discussions with security end users have been from our own perspectives - product features, camera resolution and RMR streams – all very important for him to understand, however, we are not fully understanding the security end users’ need for an overall solution to a problem. For example, when we go to buy a car, the Blu-tooth capabilities and the Sirius satellite radio are great features, much better than a standard FM/AM radio with a cassette player (do they even make cassettes anymore?), however, we ultimately are looking for a car that is safe, reliable and affordable. Are we spending too much time addressing the features and benefits and not explaining how we will provide a solution to the end users’ need?

‘From what we have seen, many end users are frustrated with the way security solutions are sold and delivered today,’ was the quote by Ms. Roy in the call-out in Laura’s article. We have heard this from many different sources, but what are we doing about it?

Ed Nichols
Industry Vice President
Reed Exhibitions
ISC Events
203 840-5968
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ISC West Recognized as a "Fastest 50" Growing Trade Show

...I spent this past weekend in Houston at Tradeshow Week’s Fastest 50 Annual Awards presentation. Tradeshow Week, a Reed owned sister publication, created the Fastest 50 – recognizing the fastest 50 growing domestic trade shows annually – in 2002. As the economy, the tradeshow industry, and business travel in general, were severely affected by the events of September 11, Vice-President & Associate Publisher Nancy Walker and her team created an awards weekend that recognized those events that were successful in finding the means to grow in those difficult times. The awards have been presented for the past 7 years.

The weekend kicks off with a Welcome Reception on Friday night, followed by executive panels on Saturday – discussing the latest issues facing the tradeshow industry, the use of social media, virtual tradeshows, blogs, Twitter and third party audits. Third party audits are an issue I am very passionate about, and shared my opinions with industry peers, as I absolutely see it as our responsibility to be transparent in providing all of our participants’ factual information around the product that we provide to our exhibiting customers - qualified security industry professionals like you. My feeling is that audits are vitally important; now in a down economy more than ever; when the news isn’t always going to be as rosy – but the truth is just as necessary.

I’d like to congratulate another of our Reed Exhibitions events for taking home the award for the #1 fastest growing consumer show - the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), serving the consumer electronic gaming market. Our Senior Vice President, Greg Topalian, and my peer, Lance Fensterman, have done a wonderful job in building on the success of this popular event. I’d also like to congratulate the entire ISC team here at Reed Exhibitions, as ISC West was recognized as the only event to be one of the Fastest 50 growing trade shows in America every year since the award’s inception – 7 years straight. That is due entirely to an incredible team that I work with here…and because of all of you.

To all of you who have been supporting us each year, and to those who plan to in the future – thank you.

Ed Nichols
Industry Vice President
Reed Exhibitions
ISC Events
203 840-5968
www.iscwest.com
www.isceast.com
www.isc365.com
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ISC East Recap

...In a year when success has been measured by how far down or off business has been, and with flat being the new up, this year's ISC East event was the shot in the arm the industry needed going into 2010. Raw attendee numbers have us up slightly in number of show floor attendees (excluding exhibitors), however, we will again audit those numbers and have something official within the next 6 weeks. For a look at what others had to say about the show, please visit these links:

• Security Systems News - ISC East surprises with traffic
• Security Products Magazine - New York, In Full Glory

Building on this attendee success, you will be seeing and hearing much more from us as we continue our strategy to rebuild ISC East, continuing our partnerships with industry groups around education, continuing targeted attendee growth relative to growing vertical markets for end-users - government, healthcare, education and retail, and continue to work with our exhibitors to contain exhibit costs and ensure they realize the value of the audience attending ISC East via our Lead Guarantee program and appointment setting initiatives.

I'd like to thank everyone who supported us this year and made ISC East the success that it was. Particularly, I'd like to thank first-year ISC Marketing Director Amie Cangelosi, and her marketing team of Kelly Higgins, Patrick Parnoff, Toni Corvi, Danielle Aposhian, Jenn Terentiuk, and Kaitlyn Martin. In a year when all of us can appreciate the difficulty of growing a piece of the business - in this case our attendance - my hats off to all of them.

Ed Nichols
Vice President
ISC Events
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I appreciate all of the feedback - this blog has elicited more responses than the one about Brett Favre!

This event has transformed, and continues to transform, to both mirror the market dynamics, but also the event dynamics nationally. It’s not a surprise that one reader found the event to be very different than what he experienced 8 years ago - the event certainly has changed. Since that time ISC East has moved from THE international ISC - to the northeast regions ISC; the largest event serving this market. The international kick-off to the security calendar has now become ISC West, which has grown to 2+ times the size that we remember ISC East to be in the 1990's, and continues to grow annually.

What ISC East is about now is business; the people responsible for security in the northeast and those people looking to do business with them. It is the highest concentration of security professionals in the northeast, with the interest and buying power for the latest in products and technologies to meet their needs. The majority of the security professionals at ISC East do not attend ISC West, and still see ISC East as vitally important to them - as evident by some of the postings above.

But we continue to work to ensure the value of ISC East and some of the changes you will see around ISC East will in fact reflect certifications and training, as we partner with more of the industry's leading educators. We were very excited to have the PSA Network providing systems integrator training at this year's event, as well as Government Security News providing targeted content for government security professionals. In 2010 you will see greater use of video, twitter (and the continuation of this blog) in discussing and eliciting feedback around the events.

But increasing the value can’t happen unless we continue to hear from you. Keep telling us what you think.

Ed