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Pacific Northwest – October 23, 2024
Zoom gallery of some participants at the October 2024 PNW meeting on AES Convention.
Meeting Topic: AES Conventions, Past, Present, Future
Speaker Name: Jess Berg, Gary Louie and Dan Mortensen, PNW Section
Meeting Location: Zoom only
Summary
On the heels of the AES 157th convention in New York (also known as the AES Show) October 8-10, the PNW Section held a review, historical analysis, and conjecture about the future of the convention. From the PNW Committee, Gary, Dan, and Micah Hayes went to New York. 25 persons came for this Zoom, all were AES members.
Following introductory comments and self-introductions by participants, Gary gave an overview of this last convention at New York’s Javits Convention Center, including the technical program and exhibits. Photos showed the venue, some of the presentations and the exhibits floor. A short video walk-thru of the exhibits was played, during which audience comments were solicited as they saw things of interest. For comparison, some of the co-located NAB exhibits floor was also shown.
Meanwhile, Dan Mortensen spent all of his time video recording oral history interviews of AES notables for the AES Historical Committee, and he described his experience speaking with these people, calling it wonderful although tiring. Some of the interviewees included past AES President Wieslaw Woszczyk, AES Fellow Shawn Murphy, engineers Eliot Scheiner and Chuck Ainsley, AES stalwarts Kazuhiko Kawahara and David Bialik, and many more.
There was no shortage of comments about this and other conventions, both complimentary and otherwise, often invoking past conventions. This led to the next phase of the meeting, a historical overview. Dan and Gary dug up data on every AES convention ever held, including the dates, venues, and many attendance and exhibitor numbers as publicly published, even registration costs when documentation could be found. The data will be available on the AES Historical Committee website.
Interestingly, conventions started in New York in 1948, with the first west coast convention being in Los Angeles in 1953. At least in the USA, the venues were hotels, until growth dictated using multiple hotels, then convention centers in the 1980s. Published figures for attendees hit 20,000 with 450 exhibitors just prior to 2001. Then of course, 9-11 occurred. However, by 2007, attendance was back up to 21,000 and 450 exhibitors. A downward trend could be seen prior to 2019 and COVID, and then, everything changes with online gatherings. By 2024, the number of exhibitors was listed as 113, and attendance described as nearly 6,000.
Many comments on past conventions were heard, from past emphasis on papers, to huge vendor exhibits to shuttle buses. John Chester won the award for earliest convention participant, having attended the 1960 convention in New York. Much was made of the value of in-person interaction, regardless of meeting size.
Change is inevitable, with discussions about what and why for future AES conventions. The next conventions announced are in Warsaw Poland (spring 2025), and Long Beach, California (fall 2025).
