HITEC 2003
, scheduled later this month for New Orleans, on June 24-26, will be an extraordinary marketplace. According to the latest survey results from early registrants in the exhibitor category, more than 20 percent are planning purchases from other exhibitors on the floor for more than $50,000 US during the next 12 months.
Additionally, 22 percent say that they will purchase more than $50,000 US from other HITEC exhibitors during the conference.

“This is really surprising data compared to other conferences,” said Julie Walker, HITEC`s show manager. “Although HITEC has been a place where almost everyone there is either learning about new technology or buying it, these numbers indicate that exhibitor registrants are planning to spend higher dollar amounts this year.”

“The first year that HFTP went to a lead retrieval card system for HITEC attendees, exhibitors were not provided the cards,” continued Walker. “Quite frankly, the staff at that time did not see the need for them since they were `exhibitors.` During the show, we were overwhelmed with complaints that registrants who exhibited should have also received these encoded cards since they too bought technology and services from others on the show floor. Since that time, HFTP treats everyone who attends as a potential buyer—which makes us unlike any other show and creates more value for all who attend.”

Other interesting survey results indicated that more than 80 percent of respondents consider HITEC the most critical conference or tradeshow to their company`s success, 45 percent have attended HITEC more than three times and 30 percent have attended more than five times.

“Since HFTP is interested in making HITEC 2003 the most positive experience possible, we asked the exhibitor registrants what we could do to make it better,” said Frank Wolfe, HFTP`s executive vice president and CEO. “The number one request was to help exhibiting companies get more face time with the industry press. While we created a number of press conference opportunities this year, there are still more than 275 companies competing with representatives of about 30 `mainstream` hospitality publications. This creates a real dilemma for all involved, but HFTP continues to try to find additional solutions to this recognized problem.” Wolfe said.

The survey polled 523 individuals who registered as exhibitors for HITEC 2003. The results have a margin of error of less than + or - 5%.

Early registration for HITEC 2003 was very strong early on, slowed down to about the same as last year, and is now surprisingly picking up once again. HFTP is expecting about 5,500 attendees for the three-day event.
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