09-18-2003, 02:30 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Will The Real PC Expo Please Stand Up?
As some of you noticed, I was hoping to bring back lots of good nuggets of information and pictures from this year's PC Expo. However, I failed at this goal. Miserably. :cry: If you're wondering why, take a look at my panorama shots of the two sides of the show floor. (If you have image resizing, you'll want to turn it off when you click on the images, so you can scroll and see the details.)
I didn't get a perfect pair of panorama shots, but it illustrates the point. Yes, all that grey you see is an empty show floor. Take a look at the people to get a sense of scale. I'd say 35% or thereabouts of the show floor was occupied. Compare this to the mid-90s, when the entire main floor was occupied, and they had exhibits on two supplemental floors (they had a Mac pavilion upstairs, and specialty pavilions downstairs). It was noticeably smaller than CeBIT America, and in fact there was also a Textile show running on the lower floor at the same time.
One more problem compounded all of this: the show floor wasn't particularly good. There was no representation from names like Intel, Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Palm, or IBM. It used to take two whole 7-hour days to cover most of the exhibition booths. It only took me about two hours this time, and that was only because I was taking my sweet time -- only HP and Olympus had substantial booths (apart from CMP, who organizes the show). About 30% of the floor dealt with international outsourcing, which might be useful except it was sparsely attended -- some of the booths were abandoned. To salvage the trip, my coworkers and I did take a few pictures, which I'll post this weekend, but overall this was by far the worst PC Expo I've ever attended.
I'm not quite sure what to make of this. Is the Internet (and sites like this) making it unnecessary for expositions like these? Is it a function of the economy? What do you think?
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09-18-2003, 02:54 AM
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09-18-2003, 02:59 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,911
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It looks like you used a Canon to make those panoramas.
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09-18-2003, 03:19 AM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 899
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Darn you, now I can't get that song outta my head...
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09-18-2003, 03:37 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,398
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The same thing has happened to the Spring COMDEX. Even in the beginning it wasn't as big as the Vegas version, but two years ago it was smaller than the Welding Convention and Tradeshow! 8O
I don't know the exact numbers, but I'd say that two years ago the Spring COMDEX was about 1/8 the size it used to be. Now it's gone. No more COMDEX for me within a day's drive! :cry:
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09-18-2003, 03:50 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 2
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IBM was there
Picky point, but it looks from the top photo like IBM was there...
Mark
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09-18-2003, 03:54 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 545
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Um...wow
This makes the little ITEC show that is happening here next month look like a freaking dream! ITEC is a small show and it always was. I don't think it's travel budgets....I just think that the boom time last tiime soured alot of folks on tech. Case in point.....just a few years ago I remember that it took a very short time for skins to pop up when a new version of a software product came out. Now, themeXP has very little in GOOD Visual Styles for Style XP and Winamp who used to release a version every month has gone since December with no updates. Tech as a whole is still a bit down....at least the neat tech stuff. Lets be honest, more powerful servers are pretty neat but they are BORING!
Do we need shows like this? Well, i think what happened is the bigger shows are falling off and the local shows got a little bigger. That and the internet does have somethings to do with it, Why fly to NYC when you can lookup a press release on the web? I find out about new PPC's here and I don't even read magazines for the pro reviews any more because the pros have no clue. Better off reading epinions for the clueless aspect because at least sometimes you get someone with an iota of knowledge. For the power user type review I check here or The Gadgeteer. Also, I only have had two business trips thus far this year where I had several last year. Travel budget isn't like it used to be and I am up to my armpits in work. I would love to hit the next Linux/AIX Technical Univeristy except I don't think I will be able to. We'll see. Same goes for the conference I would like to hit dealing with the software I admin. That show is at least in a neat location (Washington, DC).
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09-18-2003, 03:54 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,398
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I don't mean to sound like a broken record or anything, but at the Chicago COMDEX in 2001 Microsoft was BARELY there. A plain white booth with a stack of flies on it. And that was it. No people. No signs. Just a stack of papers. 8O
Look what GNOMEDEX is doing! It's thriving!
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09-18-2003, 03:58 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,639
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I think that what you describe is true for many industries. I've always worked in the product identification and auto id businesses and the trade shows are fading away there as well.
At one time people depended on trade shows to get new information and see new ideas. Now, these things are available all the time on-line.
I'm convinced that for some time the only people making money at the shows have been the organizers. Exhibitors have been afraid not to show up. They are getting smarter these days and putting their marketing budgets to better use than lining the pockets of trade show companies.
The cost to exhibit at shows has gotten out of control as well. With most convention centers being unionised, especially Javits, McCormick Place and Philadelphia, they have successfully driven away a lot of the potential business. Anyone who has had to pay for, or set up exhibits at these places will know just what I mean. Las Vegas is better but with cuts in travel budgets it's impossible to get people to visit these days.
__________________
Cheers!
David
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09-18-2003, 04:09 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 412
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I think it's more of a reflection of the maturing (relatively)of the industry as a whole. I do a lot of speaking at trade shows and conventions and in my experience, the more general shows are declining (COMDEX, etc.) and the specialized shows (DAMA, PMWORLD, PocketPCstuff, etc.) are growing.
I think conference providers need to understand that as specializations become more mature, generalist shows will become less important. This is true for both attendees and exhibitors.
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