SCTE•ISBE has announced record-breaking attendance representing more than 100 countries at SCTE•ISBE Cable-Tec Expo Virtual Experience, an all-digital presentation of the largest cable industry event in the Americas. The opening general session kicked off a trade show brimming with innovation, including a first-of-its-kind holographic light field demonstration.

Expo 2020’s virtual format allowed people to participate remotely from their homes and offices around the world. Sponsorships from Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, Midco, Liberty Global, Millicom, RCN, Rogers, Shaw, the National Cable Television Cooperative, and the SCTE Foundation enabled SCTE•ISBE to offer free registration for the first time in the show’s nearly 40 year history and drove a substantial increase in first-time attendees, who accounted for more than half of the show’s turnout.

“The generosity of our sponsors is a testament to their commitment to the industry as well as the important role Expo plays in the advancement of cable technology,” said Mark Dzuban, SCTE•ISBE president and CEO. “Despite extraordinary circumstances brought on by a global pandemic, cable has risen to every challenge and emerged stronger than ever before. Though nothing can take the place of in-person events, we look forward to adopting a hybrid format so that we can continue to welcome a larger, more diverse group of professionals each year.”

Attendance is not the only metric to demonstrate Expo 2020’s success: SCTE•ISBE received four times the number of Fall Technical Forum paper downloads during the week of the show compared to the same time period in previous years. During the live show, October 12 through 15, the platform recorded more than 2.8 million minutes of online activity, 153,000 platform interactions, and 1,300 meetings. Thousands of visitors flocked to sponsor showcases featuring 70 of the industry’s most respected organisations. Engagement is expected to increase as the platform will remain accessible to new and existing attendees for on-demand sessions and paper downloads until January 2021.

In addition to traditional live and recorded sessions, the interactive experience offered real-time question and answer sessions as well as video chat, and more than 200 people representing the global cable operator community took advantage of CTO tours touting emerging solutions.

“Technetix has been astounded by the response to our participation at Expo 2020, particularly in our sponsorship of the DOCSIS 4.0 panel exploring the future of HFC networks. The Fall Technical Forum workshops were also outstanding and the ability to view them retrospectively is a great bonus, enabling us to view more presentations than we could attend live,” said Jan Ariesen, CTO, Technetix. “And our CTO tours provided a great opportunity to interact with our customers and meet new people. In fact, we generated more leads from the virtual show than we have in previous years onsite.”

SCTE•ISBE Cable-Tec Expo 2021 is scheduled for October 11th – 14th at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Kevin Hart, executive vice president and chief product and technology officer for Cox Communications, has been named committee chairperson for a third time, after serving as chair in 2013 and 2018. The theme for 2021 is ‘Fast Forward, a nod to the rapidly advancing connectivity that promises to transform our cities, workplaces and homes.