The topic always comes up in the McCormick Place exhibit halls.
How’s the show been? Has it been busy? Is attendance down?
Everyone wants to know and RSNA puts out an estimate during the show. About one month later, the attendance mystery is solved when the audited attendance numbers surface. It happened again this year. More than 56,800 people were registered for RSNA 2009, including 26,363 professional attendees. Each number represents a 4% drop from 2008.
But what about the bigger picture? Curious, I went searching for the audited total and professional attendance numbers from the past five years. The accompanying chart contains those results.
| RSNA Attendance | |||
| Year | Total | Professional | Other* |
| 2009 | 56,824 | 26,363 | 30,461 |
| 2008 | 59,181 | 27,586 | 31,595 |
| 2007 | 62,501 | 27,593 | 34,908 |
| 2006 | 61,976 | 25,772 | 36,204 |
| 2005 | 62,251 | 26,709 | 35,542 |
| *Includes, exhibitors, guests, and press | |||
Total attendance was 8.7% less in 2009 than four years earlier. That said, professional attendance has been much more stable, slipping just 1.3% in the same time span. The real numerical difference has been the “other” attendees at the show, with the attendance of exhibitors, guests, and press down 14.3% in the same span. What it really means may be in the eyes of the beholder (or the measurerer). If you look at just the years 2006 to 2009, the numbers would show a 2.3% increase in professional attendance and an even steeper 15.9% drop in other attendees over those years. I see stable professional attendance and a declining exhibitor presence—with a huge drop (3,313) as the Deficit Reduction Act cuts and the recession rippled through radiology in the second half of 2008. That seems sensible.
For the record, RSNA 2007 set a record in both total and professional attendance.
While you have more urgent tasks in your day, this information answers a little answer to a question you know you wanted answered.
— By Jim Knaub