Production Show hailed as 'outright success'

The organisers of The Production Show have announced the 2002 event was an "outright success", with visitor numbers up 15% on last year and over 50% of exhibitors already pre-booked for 2003.
A record number of 9,670 people passed through the doors at Olympia’s National Hall between 21-23rd May. The Production Show team has also announced the show dates for next year - May 20-22 - and the launch of a new 3D area at the event.
The record attendance was attributed to the Show’s new dates in May, six weeks after NAB in Las Vegas. As a result, the event became the first UK showcase for numerous exhibitor launches including Discreet, Media 100 and 2d3.
Since the re-branding of The Production Show in 1998, it has become a pan-industry event and statistics have shown there is a demand for a larger presence from the 3-D market. This year’s show held free workshops, incorporating 3-D, which were attended by 700 people a day.
The free workshops proved to be highly popular with the visitors and many of the areas reached full capacity, leaving standing room only available.
Rob Pickering, Director of Media 100, said: “The Production Show in 2002 was a major success for Media 100. We had specific aims about the quality and quantity of customers we wanted to see and the Show exceeded all our goals! At NAB this year visitor numbers were down, especially from Europe and we were concerned that numbers would be low at the show, but our theatre was packed. All round this was an excellent show and I am delighted to have been able to book a larger stand space for next year."
Andrew Craske, Communications Manager at Skillset, said: "Every year the Show seems to get more and more successful for us. Our skillsformedia careers advice sessions totally sold out with many people booking sessions for after the show and our 'lucky break' seminar for runners was hugely over-subscribed with runners stood listening from outside the seminar room. The Production Show is one of our key communications activities throughout the year and we were very happy with the amount of people visiting the Skillset Learning Zone for careers advice and training information."
Several exhibitors benefited, not only from the influx of visitors to the stands, but also from business transactions made during the show.
Toby Wand, Divisional Event Director, said: “This years show has been a triumph on all counts, especially considering the current climate of the broadcast industry. The move to encompass a broader range of technology has broadened our offering making the show fully representative of the industry.”
The Production Show, www.productionshow.com
(GMcG)