Will The Real PC Expo Please Stand Up?

[Janak Parekh]

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.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/PCExpo-2003/PCExpo-ShowFloor-Right.jpg"><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/PCExpo-2003/PCExpo-ShowFloor-Right-small.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/PCExpo-2003/PCExpo-ShowFloor-Left.jpg"><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/features/PCExpo-2003/PCExpo-ShowFloor-Left-small.jpg" /></a><br /><br />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 <b>entire</b> main floor was occupied, and they had exhibits on two supplemental floors (they had a Mac pavilion upstairs, and specialty pavilions downstairs). It was <i>noticeably</i> smaller than CeBIT America, and in fact there was also a Textile show running on the lower floor at the same time.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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?

[arebelspy]

Someone on Passion was saying the same things here:

http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=36052

And the folks over at The Gadgeteer (http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/)were saying how bad it was as well . . .

It's too bad.

-arebelspy

[dean_shan]

It looks like you used a Canon to make those panoramas.

[beq]

Darn you, now I can't get that song outta my head...

[David Prahl]

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:

[markebell]

Picky point, but it looks from the top photo like IBM was there...

Mark

[gorkon280]

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).

[David Prahl]

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!

[dh]

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.

[karen]

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.

[dangerwit]

A while back our newspaper had an article about this... how companies, in the slumping economy, simply couldn't afford to attend all the shows.

*Phil

[KevinK]

Boy, am I glad I didn't come all the from Queens to see that poor show! I would have wasted 20 minutes on the subway! ;-)

[bibap]

One of the more amusing accounts of the show was published by The Gadgeteer. I suggest everyone take a look.

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/techxny-pcexpo-2003-tuesday-article.html

[maximus]

I heard that the Fall 2003 IDC (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/events/idffall_2003/index.htm) was a blast. It even have Morgan Freeman marvelling Intel's home video solutions.

And while you are there, read about the new bulverge processor (http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20030917net.htm) for PDAs.

[Janak Parekh]

One of the more amusing accounts of the show was published by The Gadgeteer. I suggest everyone take a look.
Spot-on. Except in my case, I went up to the media pavilion and noticed immediately the disaster that the situation was.

Picky point, but it looks from the top photo like IBM was there...
No "real" booth, though. They had some video or something, or maybe a small stand, but nothing like the old days.

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

It looks like you used a Canon to make those panoramas.
Indeed. A PowerShot S230. :mrgreen: Too bad I stink at making the panorama shots. In fact, my attempt was worse than the ones I posted :oops: -- these pics were one of my coworkers' attempts, but the vantage point was too difficult even for a "seasoned veteran". ;)

--janak

[dean_shan]

It looks like you used a Canon to make those panoramas.
Indeed. A PowerShot S230. :mrgreen: Too bad I stink at making the panorama shots. In fact, my attempt was worse than the ones I posted :oops: -- these pics were one of my coworkers' attempts, but the vantage point was too difficult even for a "seasoned veteran". ;)

--janak

I like to make panoramas when I go hiking. It is good to get photos like this (http://www.deanshan.com/drop/savage.jpg)Warning 2MB file

[TomB]

"Nothing like the old days" is the droll understatement of the year. Microsoft didn't even have their own booth! They had ONE poor guy from the server section at a kiosk supplied by a publication they buy ad space with! Well, at least the decline seems only computer-based. So far this quarter in the USA: Streaming Media East/Hilton BORING - small show/moderate turnout; Cebit/Javits - BORING large show light turnout; DVExpoEast/Javits KILLER - large show packed turnout; MacWorld/Javits INTERESTING - Large show moderate/heavy turnout. An exhibitor at PCExpo said computer shows in general were crashing but shows like the Consumer Electronics Show were on an upswing.

As far as costs being a factor, who said anyone had to spend tons of money on booths, union construction, brochures, giveaways? All I want to do is talk to techs and my peers, handle new products for buying decisions and go home. I don't want glow-in-the-dark yoyos or a suitcase full of brochures or marketing guys who don't know what they are talking about. A guy at the Nextel table didn't know about PDAs and cellular convergence while a guy at T-Mobile didn't know anything about upcoming faster datarates and lower pricing.

Oh by the way, Intel couldn't make the show, guess what they were doing today? Demoing a new high-definition video stream with the new Intel® Pentium® 4 processor Extreme Edition 3.20 GHz, with an extra 2 Megabytes of cache to developers. In Intel's own words, "this new processor will be targeted at high-end gamers and computing power users." OK so here at PCExpo we get to chat with telephone guys who don't even know their own products while 2,500 miles away we have Intel showing off extreme PC tech. Hmmm...what is wrong with this picture?

[racerx]

I was all set to go on Wed and then decided that it wasn't worth my time - glad I made that decision!

Part of the problem with this show was that they moved it from June to September. There is no reason to have a show in September - its between product cycles and there is nothing to show. I think it was BargainPDA that did a "interview" with Dell where basically they told you nothing new and showed you nothing new. If you were a company and knew that you really didn't have anything to tell anyone, would you spend the money to attend the show? I wouldn't.

Supposedly, next year it will be in October. CeBit being in June didn't help anything. You don't need two shows of the same ilk in the same location that close together time-wise - its just a waste. CeBit wasn't bad for a first year show, but I made it through that one in record time too - spent almost as much time in B&H Photo as I did at the show.

[adamz]

I was there Teusday.
It was pretty dissapointing. But it was definitely bigger than Macworld of this year. Macworld was about half the size of PC Expo this year, and maybe a quarter of the amount of people.

[Jimmy Dodd]

I like to make panoramas when I go hiking. It is good to get photos like this (http://www.deanshan.com/drop/savage.jpg)Warning 2MB file

Not to drift too far off topic but that's a really nice series of shots. That's some really serious desolation - where is this?- Alaska or Mordor? :wink:

It's almost as desolate as the convention pics! :lol:

[Askani]

I contemplated going yesterday, but got lazy and didn't. Kinda felt bad about that. After seeing this, I'm glad I didn't go.

[dean_shan]

Not to drift too far off topic but that's a really nice series of shots. That's some really serious desolation - where is this?- Alaska or Mordor? :wink:

Thanks. It's the advantage of living where I do. You can go out and hike and it will be just you and your friends out there. I took this photo at Denali National Park & Preserve (http://www.nps.gov/dena).