My first meeting was at 10:00am Sunday morning.  Like most of you, I got my “Exhibitor’s” badge from friends displaying at the show, so I was already halfway into the South Hall at 9:45 when I stopped dead in my tracks.  There was a GE-sized booth I’d never seen before.  Hundreds of people were standing around waiting for something to happen.  So thick were the crowds that you could not really see what was in the booth, and the booth itself had very little explanatory information other than it was big and white and said “Ui” or “United Imaging.”

My first thought was did GE get sold?  Is this the new name for the company?  I know that GE corporate had plans to spin off GE Medical, but I thought I had just read something about the idea that they were having second thoughts.

What everyone was waiting for was a ribbon cutting ceremony, and at exactly 10:00am an announcer introduced Mr. “So-and-So,” the “President – North American – United Imaging”.  After a two minute thank you, he announced the names of all of the dignitaries who were present for the ribbon cutting….and they were all Chinese names, with the exception of two executives from a Midwest hospital that I’d never heard of.

As my eyes focused, I saw a booth filled with CT’s, MR’s and Nuclear Therapy equipment that looked, quite frankly, as proletarian as one could imagine.  United Imaging is China’s big entry into the RSNA with what someone later told me was their state-sponsored mega-sized medical corporation.

And that was the only the start of the Asian theme I sensed at this year’s RSNA.  You might say, “Dan, that’s nothing new,” and I would generally agree.  However, what I sensed was new this year was the large number of 10’x20’, 20’x20’ and 30’x30’ booths filled with general x-ray equipment made by Asian companies.  There were more portables, general rad rooms, straight arms and u-arms displayed than I can ever remember, and the vendors were all looking for North American distributors.  But when I asked about North American support, they mostly had US-based phone numbers that connected to their home offices with “guarantees” to answer at any time.

The same was true for DR.  I think there may have been more new companies entering this market than there were panels sold last year in North America.  OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.  The two major new issues here seemed to be “flexible” DR, which I think means plastic instead of glass.  Great for helping to eliminate the need for drop insurance, but a lot of dealers were telling me that they wanted to see images.  The other interesting thing here was the big push for retrofit kits for C-Arm.  Is the image intensifier dead?

Most of the vendors I wanted to see were in the South Hall but I, of course, walked the North Hall in the hope of finding a “gem” among the new companies.  North Hall is typically filled with IT companies, and there were more this year than last.  In fact, IT is being replaced by AI or least big discussions on AI.  As I walked by the end of the North Hall, I stopped for a moment to listen to the RSNA committee on AI announce the winners of best innovations in AI.  Don’t quote me, but I believe they were giving out 10 awards from the 1,400 entries they received.

The race from mechanical to code continues.

Booth traffic Sunday appeared to be quiet.  That seems to be the pattern of the past few years, but I really felt it was extra quiet this year.  I was able to pack more meeting in than I had scheduled, primarily because people were pulling me into their booths looking for something to do.

However, Monday was also quiet.  To be fair, it was busier than Sunday, but to me it felt more like a Wednesday.  I had some plans to come back on Tuesday, if necessary, but by 4:00pm Monday I was done.

As I said before, most of my meetings were with companies in the South Hall.  Meeting with dealers usually took place between the halls and this year, for the first time, I had no trouble finding a couple to nice seats.

Although most dealers said they were busy for the remainder of the year, I got the impression that this year was not as good as last year and that third quarter was particularly slow.

By Monday evening, I was pretty well convinced that 2018 was not going down in the record books as the best year for most dealers and that there was a healthy concern about prospects for 2019.  This was reinforced by a number of conversations where dealers were sharing with me the new peripheral business opportunities they were starting to pursue in efforts to develop new revenue streams…something I don’t hear as much in years when sales are strong.

But I think I got the confirmation about this year at the Agfa party Monday night.  I’ve been lucky enough to get an invite for the past several years.  It’s a wonderful place to bump into people I’ve missed on the floor, and I think the food is about the best to be had.  In previous years the huge Cathedral Room at the University Club has been packed to the point that you can hardly move.  Forget about getting a table, and if you want to drink and eat at the same time, you have to have a third hand.

This year the room was “empty”.  That is to say, I think it was only 75% full.  Forget sitting down, but standing tables were easy to find.  Too bad I’m eating a lot less these days because there was no waiting in food lines…unless it was for the lamp chops.

The RSNA is not necessarily a forecaster of the coming year, but if it was I’d say we’re going to be working hard for sales in 2019.

What was your experience?   Please let me know.

 

 

(Please note that the image of the empty tradeshow is a stock image, not from this year’s RSNA…just trying to make the point…empty.)