SAN DIEGO — The 2024 Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC) grew in attendee, exhibitor and sponsor-count. Held March 24-28 at the San Diego Convention Center, OFC 2024 was visited by 12,500 professionals (1,000 more than 2023), and more than 630 exhibiting companies (approximately 115 more than 2023).
“Ever since the pandemic, telecommunications and especially data centers and networking, has been doing tremendously well,” Optica Chief Events and Corporate Engagement Officer Ryan Strowger explained. “We’re seeing that both on the wireless and wired side of the equation, and it’s really manifesting itself in OFC in some great ways.”
Strowger added that this growth was also fueled by international attendees learning to manage visa wait times: “People have figured out more that they need to plan way farther in advance to be able to participate.”
OFC, produced by Optica; IEEE Photonics Society; and IEEE Communications Society, also had more diverse sponsors in 2024 when compared to recent years, including several from Asia.
“OFC is a very global show. We have a lot of participants from overseas, especially in terms of the technical registrants… so it was great that some of the sponsorship money was coming from outside of the U.S.,” Strowger said.
On top of increased attendance, exhibitors and sponsorship, OFC also received the largest amount of contributed educational presentations since 2016. To maintain approximately the same acceptance rate as previous years, the OFC team increased the number of sessions offered at the show from 13 to 14.
Related. Trade Show and Events Industry Applauds Legislation Dedicating Funds to Reducing Visa Wait Times
According to Strowger, OFC 2024 was planned with sustainability in mind: “We’ve been trying to de-prioritize some of our print materials… [and] some of our brochures that used to be printed and mailed out… now are just in a digital format, and that’s allowing us to reach greater quantities of people as well.”
Strowger added that exhibitors also increased their attention on sustainability, and worked to “be cognizant of, and responsive to, the energy consumption demand” of their products.
Additionally, OFCnet, OFC’s high-speed optical network used for live demonstrations, expanded its demonstrations, participants and workshops in 2024.
Strowger called it “a really unique experience… starting to become a new cornerstone of OFC, where we can showcase the excitement of this technology sector.”
In 2025, OFC will move to San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Its Technical Conference is set for March 30-April 3, and its Exhibition is set for April 1-3.
“It’s great to be a part of an event that a lot of individuals set their calendars to,” Strowger shared. “Being able to really see it and experience it on-site and have really positive feedback about the networking, sharing, engagement, learning and kind of serendipitous discovery that people can do at trade shows like OFC is really kind of magical.”
Learn more about OFC here.
OFC is in the Fastest 50 Class of 2023. Learn more about the Fastest 50 Class of 2023 here.
Photo Credit: OFC
