The Ghost of AES Past
Back in the olden days trade publications specifically for sound reinforcement were hard to come by. In fact they didn’t exist. We had to be satisfied with whatever coverage Mix, PSN or REP would throw our way. Most of the info the Regular Joe type users got was either from trade shows, word of mouth or if you were lucky, a dealer rep or one of the very few pro audio dealers at the time. At that time we couldn’t email or fax a supplier because a) email and fax weren’t available then, and perhaps more importantly b) no one offered that service. Much has changed in the last few decades. The ability for information on demand, the market for turnkey systems, and a changing of both the pro audio media and trade show business, though at times both had to be forced into the new word kicking and screaming.
When the dynamics of media starting changing with the advent of the Internet, so did the business model of the trade shows and trade media. Both of those outlets, once the only game in town so to speak were the defacto conduit for information. That info consisted of both product info and whatever thinly veiled press release passed as news at the time. I first started attending pro audio trade shows in the early 80s while working in the local so Cal regional PA company scene. Around NAMM time we were often called to support one of the myriad of parties, special events and product announcements that were plentiful at the time. Later that was parlayed into manufacturer relationships and it seemed like we were doing a few trade shows a year. There were basically two schools of thought regarding trade show presentation at the time. One was marketing glitz, parties and glamor, such as NAMM. The other was straight ahead engineering, such were AES and NSCA. Fast forward twenty years and NAMM has gotten so crowded it’s hardly managable and much more difficult to gain entry. AES and NSCA have narrowly escaped the the great abyss that giants such as COMDEX found at the end of their run.
AES has always been a special place. Even though the early shows didn’t have the bling and party atmosphere of the other marketing based shows the reason for going was the engineering aspect. It was (and still is) where the cutting edge ideas are presented for a more or less informal evaluation by your peers in the business. Back then the focus was toward general audio engineering with the recording industry was strongly represented. As the PA biz matured and started to be more driven by market, thanks in no small part to my Krazy Uncle Kenny at the time, other media outlets and show promoters started looking to grab a part of a wide open market. At the time AES and NSCA were old and stodgy and didn’t seem too interested in changing the format. They were known for education and engineering and I don’t think those at the helm at the time understood that we were in the largest paradigm shift in the history of our industry.
The upside to this was there were now shows with specific areas catering to the marketing of pre built PA gear for portable sound. No longer did you have to sift through rows of MI gear, install gear or recording gear to find one of the few sound reinforcement exhibitors. Not only was the show focus on our end of the biz, it was also in cool locales that were cheap to get to and cheap to stay at. You could spend a weekend and not too much money and have a hell of a time. The working pro level of the biz is a pretty finite group of individuals and so many more shows began to take its toll on both the attendees and the exhibitors. There was a time where the manufacturers and reps were either prepping for a show, or just getting back from a show. For the international players based in the US it was even worse as Europe and south east Asia started ramping up thier show calendars. The shows that took the biggest hits at the time were the AES and NSCA. AES was in space and cities that were not only expensive to get to and stay in, they were becoming increasingly cost prohibitive from an exhibitors point of view. The tech bubble of the 90s had not burst and the likes of Intel and Microsoft were competing with the much smaller vertical market of pro audio and driving the price of exhibit space and services through the roof.
We launched Pro Sound Web at AES Los Angeles in 2000. A couple of couches in a 10′x10′ booth with a banner and pipe and drape background in the back of the hall, part of a T1 and a 20 amp electrical service. The LAB had been pretty popular at that point for about the last five years and we weren’t taken too seriously by most of the trade media. I have some fond memories, Paul Gallo then of Pro Sound News fame shaking his head at the idea of an online media outlet, George Peterson and Mark Frink of Mix with Peterson questioning why anyone would ever want to advertise online. On the other end of the spectrum were Mark Herman and Mark McClean who saw right away the potential of what we were trying to do. We were moving at breakneck speed to get what we were pitching top some as the Yahoo/Google of pro audio to a point where we didn’t have a nearly six figure burn rate a month. Not only did we have to partner with these shows, we had to exhibit. The pro audio trade show industry was reaching a breaking point. That point would soon come, though not the fault of this industry.
AES New York 2001 had its place on the fall calendar at Javitz and we were set to exhibit. Then came the terrorist attacks of Sept 11. It became the turning point for the psyche of the nation as a whole and the resulting downturn caused many businesses to rethink all sorts of plans, not just marketing. The convention had been rescheduled for after Thanksgiving that year. I got in town the evening of the Rockerfeller Square tree lighting. There was a sense of caution in the air, but that was overpowered by an optimisim that I have yet to experience again. At the show though, it was a different matter entirely. Many of the exhibitors had chosen to cancel when the show had been rescheduled. The resulting economic downturn didn’t do any favors for anyone either. The booths were small and the presence of the big players was muted. Some didn’t show. The events and parties were much more downscale with the free swag and booze not flowing as in recent years. There was a steady stream of people to our booth, but nothing like at other shows prior. Everything had changed. Everywhere.
We started asking ourselves if AES was done. Many others in the industry asked the same question. Looked like it was headed that way with NSCA not too far behind. Some floated ideas that AES would be better as a papers and educational contributor of one of the other shows like LDI. The next year was tough on everyone. I did manage to attend AES Los Angeles 2002 though by that point we’d moved data centers and shuttered most of our services except for the forums. We were in a death spiral and in three months, perhaps three of the longest months in my life, we would be done. Sold for pennies on the dollar only to be turned into what we had been trying to avoid in the first place. The show was more upbeat than New York the previous year but attendance was still down and not every manufacturer was going to every show. In the race for exhibitors and attendees the market had been severely fractured. Earlier during the year we had tried a couple of different so called virtual trade shows in conjunction with the shows at the time but couldn’t gain any traction at the time. We were ahead of the technology and bandwidth curve once again and another good idea fell by the wayside. I didn’t attend another AES until last year in San Fransisco.
A few years ago the powers that be at AES saw the writing on the wall and brought some different people in to try a different approach. This time with a bigger emphasis on sound reinforcement in the educational program. Other changes were made as well including most recently a better Web presence with an understanding of how to use the medium to promote not only the convention but the organization as a whole. It might have taken a while, but now they get it. I’d burned out of the audio tradeshow circus and wasn’t interested until last year when I was asked to be part of a panel at AES. By my own choice I’ve been largely secluded from that part of the industry since I stopped touring and started working on the Strip. Over the last few North American AES conventions I’ve been pleasantly surprised at not only the quality of of the programs but the depth and diversity of the programs as well. And that’s thanks in no small part to some people I’ve known over the years, Bob Moses, Bob Lee, Henry Cohen and Mac Kerr as well as many, many others and of course Roger Furness for putting the right people in the right places and listening to both exhibitors and attendees. While the world economic climate is likely to remain in quicksand for the next year or two it seems to me that the Audio Engineering Society is in a much better position to remain a driving force in the advancement of ideas, technology and education for our industry.