There has been a considerable amount of talk amongst us broadcast tech denizens about what the final announced attendance number will be this year. Last year that figure reached 104,000; the record is 115,000 in 2000.
After cruising around on the floor on the show's first day, I'm going to venture a guess that the announced number will be about 75,000 for this year's show. I was hanging out around the music libraries much of the afternoon and, while some people noted the lack of the typical Monday morning "rush," others offered that the people who did make it to the LVCC this year are doing more than kicking tires.
Marisa Pellicane of Omnimusic, for example, said that she'd already swiped about 50 ExpoCards by about 1pm ... and now she's gotten some "ink" in Post Mag's blog, too. Wow!
So, the point is ... if the attendance is off about 30 percent from last year, that's still plenty of people to have a productive show.