First InfocommAsia trade show set for Bitec this week

Richard Tan, executive director of InfocommAsia, said Thailand was chosen as the venue for the event largely because of its attractiveness in the eyes of international exhibitors and business visitors.
According to Tan, both Thailand and Singapore were considered as the potential venue with the latter seen as the region’s leader in terms of AV technology, but those surveyed by the organiser preferred Bangkok as the event location.
Professional AV technology is essentially aimed at helping businesses to communicate with their customers in a more experiential way, said Tan.
“For example, the retail industry wants to communicate with their potential customers or shoppers in a way that excites them, not just having a piece of paper with printed text and expecting them to read it – that’s very boring.
“They should instead use digital signage technology to communicate in a way that creates emotions and gets shoppers excited and wanting to buy the products.
“Another example is the media industry using video walls to better communicate with their audience in a way that’s not just verbal but visual in nature and that excites them,” he explained. “In fact, AV technology can help virtually every industry to better communicate with their customers in a way that’s more experiential.”
 Infocomm events have been held in the US, Europe and South America, as well as Asia. China has hosted two Infocomms while India held the last one. 
The May 15-17 Infocomm in Bangkok will be the first in Southeast Asia.
According to Kanokwan Sukchaisri, director of Expo Inter Co, InfocommAsia’s sales representative for Indochina, education, national defence, public safety, traffic management, healthcare and hospitals, retail, and tourism sectors are among those that would benefit from the latest professional AV technology.
“For example, the tourism sector could use the technology to present Thai history in a more interesting and experiential way to foreign visitors, or traffic control management authorities could use it to better display complicated data,” she said.
About 7,000 professionals, technology managers and business people from Southeast Asian and other countries are expected to attend Infocomm in Bangkok. It will not be opened to the general public.
Thailand is among the biggest markets for professional AV technology and products in the region, currently registering one of the highest growth rates.
InfocommAsia in Bangkok will also include a comprehensive range of 75 technical seminars on the latest AV technology over the three-day period for those who have pre-registered at www.Infocomm-SEA.com.
According to Tan, many Asean countries have either announced or are implementing plans to expand their infrastructures across the region, and so it is a good opportunity for policymakers and private sector executives to learn about cutting-edge AV tech and products. The technology could help them maximise the benefits of these projects, especially in terms of integrating AV and other digital technologies into the national development programme, he said.