NEACC show to relocate, expand

MARLBORO, Mass.-One of the largest state-run security shows is capitalizing on the recent decision by another major industry event to hold the show outside the Northeast. In September, Reed Exhibition Companies, producers of the International Security Conference and The Home Automation Show, said the location for its ISC East show would rotate from its long-time venue of New York to be held every other year in Orlando, Fla., beginning in 2002. Board members of the New England Alarm Convention Corp., or NEACC, which puts on the Northeast Security Systems Expo 2002, decided that the relocation of the ISC East show was a prime opportunity to lure more vendors and attendees to its show, since it would be the largest security show held in the Northeast this year. By expanding marketing for the show to dealers and vendors in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, outside of its core membership of dealers in the six New England states and changing the show's venue to a larger facility, NEACC is optimistic that attendance from both dealers and vendors will increase. "We'd love to break 1,000 (attendees) this year," said Gary Spaulding, NEACC president and president of Spaulding Security in South Berwick, Maine. Attendance has already been slowly rising since the mid-1990's, so the 2002 show will be held in a larger facility at the Royal Plaza Trade Center here, instead of in a facility in Sturbridge, Mass. For the past few years, attendance topped 900. The show's new venue will allow the show to grow from 80 booths to 120. It has enough space for NEACC to resurrect its formal educational seminar series, said Ray Peidl, an independent manufacturer's representative who volunteers with NEACC. The 2002 show will feature seminars on two technical topics, which are tentatively scheduled to focus on CCTV and fire-related updates. The seminar program will also touch on two business-related topics, a course on tuning up sales tactics and a course focused on legal issues in the alarm industry, Peidl said. "We have been sensing the need for seminars because of so many new people being hired into the industry," Peidl said. The Northeast Security Systems Expo 2002 will be held Thursday, June 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a social event to be held the preceding evening.