It may look relatively quiet in the lobby of the Radisson Blu Sobieski, one of the three official sites of the Audio Video Warsaw show. But once the 27th edition of three-day show officially opens on Friday, October 24, at noon, the Radisson's lobby will be so packed that show registrants will snake through it, past soon-to-be-packed restaurants, and out the front door.
Mokrzycki does all he can to attract visitors from throughout and beyond Europe. To accommodate working people, the show remains open until 8pm on Friday and Saturday and 5pm on Sunday. Because of the large distance between the Radisson Blu Sobieski and the huge PGE Narodowy Stadium—driving time is 13 minutes at a minimum; it takes longer in heavy traffic—there's a shuttle.
Rogier van Bakel and I are Stereophile's team the "Warsaw Show" this year. Given its exact overlap with the New York Audio Show and close proximity to the Capital Audio Fest, which begins November 14, we'll confine our online reports to a few of the most interesting products and premieres. (It is also at exactly the same time as the Paris show, but we're not covering that.) More will follow.
Soon to be packed hotel restaurants.
Show organizer Adam Mokrzycki, who puts on the show with his wife, Gabriela Mokrzycka and a wonderful team of younger people, believes that Audio Video Warsaw is the 2nd or 3rd biggest show of its kind in the world. Last year it had 14,000 "unique" visitors—that's the number of people who bought tickets, regardless of the number of days they attended—more than 180 exhibitors, 174 rooms, and 50 booths. This year, exhibitors number 230 and rooms are up to 188.
Katarzyna Peaza & Gabriela Mokrzycka.
"Munich reports 18-20,000 visitors each year," Mokrzycki wrote via WhatsApp. "I can tell, based on my 28-years-long experience, those numbers are real. Still, they count them differently. If you come three times, they will count you as three visitors. If you come twice, they will count you as two visitors. How many unique visitors did they have? I don't know. … If we counted the visitors the way Munich [now Vienna] High End or AXPONA does … we would probably claim a number closer to 18,000."
Entrance to the exhibits.
The show's third site, with 7–10 large rooms at the Hotel Golden Tulip, is diagonally across from the Blu Sobieski. All you have to do is make it across a huge, treacherous multiple-traffic-light intersection that includes commuter railway tracks with frequent trains. This is my third time in Warsaw, and I've made it through without a single bruise (knocks on wood). Except perhaps to my ego.
That ego is challenged if not bruised as I approach the many jam-packed smaller rooms in the Blu Sobieski. Often there are so many people awaiting entrance outside that this short reviewer has no idea what lies beyond the threshold. More than once, feeling dwarfed in a crowd of large, broad-shouldered Polish men, I've wished that I still had the periscope I used as a kid to see over the heads of the tens of thousands of towering adults at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
