ANAHEIM, Calif. – Although advance forecasts for attendance at this week's BAI Retail Delivery Show here had been pretty grim, a spate of walk-in registrants may have lifted the numbers considerably.
According to BAI spokesperson Alison Estrada, while it was too early to tally an exact count, BAI expects to end up with perhaps 25-27 percent fewer attendees than the 8,500 who came to the 2000 show in New Orleans.
"At this point, it's looking like we'll end up with about 6,500," she said.
Several factors likely contributed to the lighter attendance, Estrada said, including continuing travel concerns following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the proximity of the event to the holidays.
Estrada said there were far fewer international visitors in Anaheim as compared to the 2000 event, when a third of attendees came from countries other than the U.S.
Next year's event, in Atlanta, is scheduled for Nov. 5-8. The earlier dates are a result of attendee feedback, Estrada said. "We've talked to folks, and they've told us that in some years we've competed with Thanksgiving and in others with Christmas and Hanukah, so we made a decision to move it up."
The 338 exhibitors were pretty consistent with previous years, although Estrada said many companies brought along fewer employees to man the booths.
Financial institutions also came with smaller contingents, but Estrada said that may have yielded a positive effect for vendors. More of the attendees – approximately 10 percent – were senior level executives.
