IBC 2001 IS DECLARED A SUCCESS

ACCORDING to the organisers by the close of IBC2001 36,294 people had attended this year's show.
Although attendance was affected by the recent events both delegates and exhibitors declared IBC2001 a success.
IBC President, John Wilson, said: "The whole world has been deeply touched by the tragedy in the US. We send our condolences to everyone affected. There was a lot of soul searching last week and it was a difficult decision to open the show. But IBC and our customers are determined not to be beaten by terrorism. We were heartened by the message of support for our decision from the USA, which was delivered to IBC on screen by US Consul General to the Netherlands, Mr Arnold Campbell."
The tone of the show was understandably muted but exhibitors, staff and contractors pulled together to ensure the expected high quality exhibits and sessions. Their hard work and optimism was rewarded with the arrival of key customers from around the world.
IBC Exhibition Chairman, Peter Owen, said: "In the end the exhibition build up was pretty smooth. All the booths were completed and open on time. Only about 20 US based smaller exhibiting companies failed to make it across the Atlantic. We contacted them immediately and made sure that their booths were set up as best we could with appropriate signage. When the show opened everyone had readjusted their expectations and it is fair to say that those expectations have been exceeded. The decision to proceed with IBC2001 was correct."
Other highlights of the show included the presentation of the IBC Awards before an audience of 2,000 delegates. The Golden Rembrandt for best programme at IBC's Nombre d'Or Festival was awarded to the BBC's drama Care and the IBC honour for excellence, the IBC John Tucker award, was presented to Roderick Snell.
IBC2002 will take place at the RAI Congress Centre Amsterdam from
September 12-17.
Owen said: "So far around 350 companies have rebooked their space for IBC2002. Some companies have booked more and some less. On average, across the whole sample, the trend is to book the same space as 2001. Applications are still arriving thick and fast at the IBC office, once again proving IBC's central role in the content creation, management and delivery marketplace." (CD)