ISE Amsterdam 2019 Trip Report. By Jeremy Koch, Director
Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) is a trade show that I have wanted to go to for a number of years. Trade Shows in Australia are nothing like what they used to be and certainly nothing like how they are in Europe or the USA. Having been to Pro Light and Sound (PL+S) in Frankfurt three times, I knew the value of visiting these shows and i always take home a lot. But PL+S has always had a distinct lack of video and IT systems and this is where ISE really showcases this technologhy. To get even more out of this trip I took Luke Boyd, our Head of Production, and off we headed to Amsterdam.
I was expecting a big show. I had heard many good things about ISE and the anticipation was massive, the same for Luke. When we arrived and started to explore, it soon became clear this show wasn’t just massive, it was overwhelming! While we didn’t see anything major that was ‘revolutionary’, we did see many many products and technologies that are ‘evolutionary’. After just day 1 with our eyes wide open and the feeling of exhaustion mixed with some jet lag we knew we needed to formulate plan for making sure we saw everyone at the show and skipped those that were not relevant.
For 4 days we visited over 1000 trade stands (1300 exhibitors in total), went to numerous parties and dinner events, attended product demo rooms, visited technology zones and had an absolute blast. Getting to talk to manufactures directly, give direct feedback and learn tips and tricks is the best thing about visiting trade shows like this. Other highlights of the show were the opening address by Bart Kresa who is a leading projection designer and artist, his world premiere installation piece Sviatovid (360 degree projection sculpture), a total of ten conferences and a comprehensive professional development programme.
Next year is the last year ISE is in Amsterdam, after that it moves to Barcelona… I think I know where I’ll be in 2021!
