NEW YORK, NY — Questex and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) have joined forces to create a new trade show, with the overarching mission of making broadband accessible to every home in the United States.
Questex just wrapped up its inaugural U.S. Broadband Summit in Washington D.C. in mid-November, attracting more than 600 attendees. This new partnership with TIA will build on the success of that trade show, creating a new event for 2024 — Broadband Nation Expo — which will take place Oct. 9-11 at the Gaylord Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
Broadband Nation Expo will unite all levels of government with broadband service providers, eco-system partners and academic institutions. Instead of hundreds, the event is expected to draw thousands of attendees, as well as more than 100 trade show exhibitors from communications service providers, equipment manufacturers, solution providers and construction/engineering firms.
The broadband industry is facing a critical shortage of workers, seeking more than 200,000 qualified employees. The Questex-TIA partnership will address this issue with a new interactive portal, Broadband Nation, the dual purpose of which is to attract a younger and more diverse generation of employees to the broadband workforce, and to connect job seekers with training opportunities at community colleges and technical institutes around the country that will prepare them for jobs in the industry.
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“In order to meet the growing demand for broadband professionals, there is a need for a significant increase in the number of institutions across the country that offer broadband skills training,” Dave Stehlin, CEO, TIA, said. “We are thrilled to introduce Broadband Nation to the market and contribute to this important mission of providing connectivity to all Americans.”
A special feature of the Broadband Nation Expo will also address the need for training: The Workforce Development Pavilion. The show plans to host administrators from universities, colleges, vocational institutions and tech schools to learn how to add broadband training to their curriculums, and there will be tabletops in the pavilion for companies and associations that offer broadband training programs. A dozen associations and industry partners have already expressed interest in being involved, according to the organizers.
“An exciting addition to Broadband Nation Expo will be our Workforce Development Pavilion,” Kevin Gray, Vice President of the Technology, Media and Telecom Group at Questex, said. “Making these connections in person is an important part of our larger Broadband Nation collaboration with TIA. As with the rest of our business, we believe that in person connections are a critical component to community-building.”
Reach Kevin Gray at kgray@questex.com; Dave Stehlin at dstehlin@tiaonline.org
