For the seventh consecutive year the ICE exhibition attendance has grown, with outline figures for this month’s event being declared at 28,487 unique visitors.
The interim figure, a record for the world's biggest business to business gaming event, represents an 11.7% increase on the total for 2015. The attendance data will now undergo an independent audit in order to be confirmed for accuracy.
Kate Chambers, who has overseen the development of the ICE brand, including the 2013 move to London’s largest purpose built events venue, Excel, believes the figures are a testament to the role that ICE now plays in world gaming.
"We invited the world of gaming to enter the Gaming Technopolis and they came – in their thousands and from a total of 150 nations,” Chambers said.
"Clearly I am delighted that we have secured a double digit increase on 2015, which itself was a record year for ICE.
“I have to place on record my sincere thanks to our 529 exhibitors from 62 nations who worked so hard and with such outstanding creativity to make ICE such a spectacle.”
Chambers also highlighted the experience the event supplied to visitors, as well as feedback from stakeholders she claims are two further yardsticks in measuring the event’s success.
“We conduct extensive customer research after each edition of ICE and I look forward to sharing the results with the industry in due course.
"The most used cliché in the events industry is 'you are only as good as your last show' and with this in mind we will shortly hold our annual strategy days with the team responsible for organising ICE, and agree the content and the campaign to take ICE forward in 2017."
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