TMO Reports - Audited MWSF Expo Numbers Show Interesting Trends

by , 6:30 PM EST, March 12th, 2004

Exhibition company IDG World Expo released for the first time Friday more accurate, audited attendance figures for last January's San Francisco-based Macworld Conference & Expo showing a turnout of 32,409. The audited numbers also reflected that the majority of attendees were from California and were primarily graphic designers and company executives.

Auditors numbers compiled by Exhibit Surveys, Inc. and released by Framingham, Mass.-based IDG World Expo show of the 32,409 total people who attended the show, 26, 071 people were exhibit-only attendees with 2,918 paying for additional conferences. The total number also includes speakers, press and registered exhibitors totalling 3,420.

"We're pleased with the numbers," Warwick Davies, IDG World Expo group vice president, told The Mac Observer. "They are a tool to help us and our exhibitors know who is coming to the show. We'll also be using them to better serve our attendees in the future with improved conferences and services."

The same show a year early had an unaudited turnout of 90,473. Contrary to other published reports, Mr. Davies said it is not fair to compare audited and unaudited numbers from previous shows and as a result he would not categorize January's attendance as either up or down.

"Although the two numbers of the last two San Francisco shows look dramatically different, I think it's important to keep in mind the criteria used to calculate attendance is very different," Mr. Davies said. "It's just not fair to compare. We're looking at it like this is a new beginning, and all future show turnout will be judged on this new number."

The numbers reflect a new accounting procedure implemented by IDG World Expo for all Expo shows. The new procedure includes examination of attendance data provided by IDG World Expo and actual counting of people entering the show floor during certain time periods.

Prior to January's show, Mr. Davies said that attendance was calculated using a turn-style count approach, whereby an attendee who visited the show three days, as an example, was counted three times for the attendance records. In addition, IDG World Expo was previously counting a person as attending who had received a show badge by mail whether the people actually show up or not, Davies said.

So who attends Expo?

Besides total turnout numbers, the audited numbers from the San Francisco show also give an interesting snap shot of who Expo attendees and Mac users really are. According to the numbers obtained by The Mac Observer, San Francisco Expo attendees are primarily graphics professionals and company executives who have the final say so in what they buy for companies with less than 50 employees.

Of those attending the show, 15.9 percent were graphics professionals, followed by company CEOs, president's and owner's at 11.8 percent. By industry, 8.2 percent of attendees were in the graphics design and creative services sector, followed by higher education and corporate training at 6.8 percent and K through 12th grade educators with 6.7 percent.

In terms of the size of organizations Expo attendees work for, the largest group - 52.6 percent - were in environments of less than 50 people. In second place were companies over 1,000 people at 15.0 percent.

Expo attendees were the final decision makers in terms of buying products or services at 46.6 percent, followed by recommending vendors or products at 27.5 percent and not playing any purchasing role at 21.6 percent.

Purchasing budgets of up to US$25,000 were the highest group among attendees at 67.2 percent, followed by US$25,000 to US$100,000 at 15 percent, according to IDG World Expo. "These numbers are pretty high," Mr. Davies noted.

Geographically, the hugh majority of Expo attendees reside in California - 25, 309 people, or 87.3 percent of all show visitors. The second closest geographic group were those attending from other countries far down the list at 575, followed by New York state at 206, Washington state at 201, Canada at 175, and Texas at 173 people.

Mr. Davies said what struck him most about the individual demographic data of who attendees the Expo show is the broad diversity of the audience.

"I think you've got a broad spectrum of people who are interested in Macintosh," Mr. Davies said. "I think you've got everyone from people who work and very large companies to people who want to get their hands dirty with the latest applications, like Final Cut Pro. These numbers are very compelling and are clients are very happy to have this type of data to make future decisions on exhibiting at Expo."