For Immediate Release
Contact: Michael Morgenthal
Phone: (212) 460-8090 ext 206
Fax: (212) 460-5460
E-mail: press@sid.org

New Features Help SID 2005 Attendance Jump 18 Percent
Boston Event Attracts Second Largest Crowd in Society's History

BOSTON, June 2 - The recently completed 2005 Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, which took place last month at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, proved wildly successful, as overall attendance at the event increased nearly 18 percent compared to last year.

The premier worldwide event in the display industry, SID 2005 attracted 7,650 total attendees, according to Palisades Convention Management Inc. (PCM), the show's manager, making it the second-best attended event in the Society's history. Last year, SID 2004 in Seattle drew 6,500 attendees. New features introduced for the 2005 show, such as the expanded Business Enterprise with a new Investors Conference, as well as the extension of the Technical Symposium from three to four days, were key reasons behind the increased interest, along with the continuing strength of the display industry.

What follows are summaries of the key elements of the 2005 SID International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition. Total attendance numbers are listed in the chart at the end of this release.

Technical Symposium
The Technical Symposium, which this year expanded into a fourth day for the first time, attracted 2,801 attendees, nearly 200 more than in 2004. Specific attendance figures for the Friday technical sessions are not available, but virtually every room remained crowded throughout the Friday presentations.

The Symposium got off to a rousing start on Tuesday, May 24 during the Keynote Addresses. Sang Wan Lee, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics Co., challenged the industry to produce 100 million liquid-crystal-display televisions (LCD-TVs) annually by 2010 - current industry forecasts predict 70 million units sold in 2010.

"For market growth, the price for a 30-inch LCD-TV needs to drop below $1,000 USD. At that point, everyone will want to buy this and the market will explode," Lee stated. "The industry should work together to achieve this goal. It will not be a difficult challenge if we work together."

He called on the display industry to adopt size standards for LCD-TVs in order to reduce manufacturing costs and delivery times. This is especially important in the emerging large-size LCD TV markets, including model sizes of 40, 46, 52 and 57 inches.
Other highlights of the keynote addresses included Harold Hoskens, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Philips Semiconductors Mobile Display Systems, who outlined the coming revolution in mobile multimedia; and Jean-Louis Bories, Senior Vice President and General Manager of National Semiconductor Corp., who detailed the continuing convergence between LCDs and electronics.

Business Enterprise
The Business Enterprise, which comprised a two-day Business Conference plus the inaugural one-day Investors Conference, attracted 932 people, a 27 percent increase from the 734 who attended the Business Conference in 2004.

Some 17 leaders in the display world offered their views on the business side of the industry during the 2005 Business Conference, which took place on Monday, May 23 and Tuesday, May 24. They touched on elements ranging from materials and manufacturing to how displays fit into the larger realm of society, both today and in the future.

On Wednesday, May 25, the inaugural Investors Conference, which was sponsored by the investment-banking firm S.G. Cowen and Co., attracted nearly 300 attendees, who listened as 22 display companies presented their business models in the hopes of attracting additional investment.

"The entire Business Enterprise was a rousing success, and we have gotten very good feedback from both presenters and those who attended," stated Elliot Schlam, who chaired the Business Enterprise. "With the addition of the Investors Conference this year, this has become a vital part of the SID Symposium. We will very likely conduct it in a similar manner next year."

Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of MIT's Media Laboratory, delivered the luncheon speech at the Investors Conference, in which he explained the Media Lab's current project to produce 200 million $100 laptop computers for educational use in developing countries by 2008. This will be done by eliminating marketing costs, and using older LCD Fabs to produce screens that may not be appealing to "early adopters" in established consumer markets, but are more than adequate for schools in developing nations.

"With computers for developing nations, if a few pixels are missing or the color rendition falls off or is not great, or has a narrow view angle, that's all okay," he said. "All of our criteria are the exact opposite of what display companies have been pursuing all these years."

Exhibition
Often a highlight of the show, the three-day exhibition did not disappoint, as large crowds flocked to the two floors of the latest, most innovative display products in the world. This year's exhibition was the largest in SID history, with 254 companies occupying 555 booths in more than 55,000 square feet of exhibition space, according to PCM.

Nearly 1,800 people attended solely the exhibition portion of the event, up from the 1,334 who did so in Seattle. Since registration at any part of SID 2005 also included admission to the exhibit floor, most if not all of the 7,650 attendees at SID 2005 visited the exhibition. Clearly, exhibitors were thrilled with the turnout, as many reported writing big orders and meeting valuable potential clients.

"We saw a wide cross section of customers and potential customers, and they were mostly interested in what products are currently on the market," explained Darren Bischoff, senior marketing manager for E Ink Corp. "A lot of people were cross-referencing between the products in the exhibit hall and the papers being presented at the Symposium. We were able to show our capabilities and got a lot of good leads for future customers for whom we can develop products. This was a great show for us in terms of lead generation and exposure."

This was a common sentiment among exhibitors, according to Kate Dickie, exhibition sales manager for PCM, who reported that booths for next year's show at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center are almost completely sold out.

"Many exhibitors decided to increase the amount of space they have for next year's show, indicating that SID 2005 went extremely well for them," Dickie said. "The show continues to grow, cementing SID's legacy as the premier event in the display world."

Attendance Statistics

  
The 43^rd SID International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition took place Sunday, May 22 through Friday, May 27, 2005 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. The annual event is the premier international gathering of scientists, engineers, manufacturers and users in the field of electronic-information displays. SID 2006 will take place June 4-9, 2006, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. For exhibitor information, contact Kate Dickie, Exhibit Sales Manager, (212) 460-8090 ext. 215, e-mail: Kate@sid.org. For registration information, contact Ralph Nadell, Registrar, (212) 460-8090 ext. 203, e-mail: Ralph@sid.org.

ABOUT SID
The Society for Information Display (SID) is the premier international professional society exclusively devoted to the advancement of electronic-display technology, manufacturing, and applications. Its international headquarters are located at 610 South Second Street, San Jose, CA 95112, U.S.A. Visit SID online at www.sid.org.