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The Last Comdex?
linuxwrangler writes "Key3Media Group Inc. which produces the Comdex trade show may be unable to make it's debt payments and could declare bankruptcy. No decision will be made until after Fall Comdex opening on Monday. More info is available at Google News."
I attended Comdex in Toronto for four of the last five years. Every year I noticed it was getting worse, and wondered if it was worth going to. This last summer I didn't bother going, and I didn't miss it.
During the time I attended it changed from being a show for people in the industry, to a show for anyone off the street. The first year I went there the small company I was with signed up with TechData and nearly did the same with AOpen. The next year, neither were there. The last year I went was positively lame. No one but the big guys, and not even all of them. Heck, Corel wasn't even there.
Good riddance. It was a waste of time that was eventually replaced with product info found on the Internet.
I've been to 9 of the last 10 and will attend next week. Comdex hit a lull before the dot com boom and then the last two years it's been trying to find it's way again.
This year looked extremely promising with more informative panel discussions and break out sessions.
Don't forget this also affects the other Comdex shows that happen each year. I've only been to Fall Comdex, so I can't speak to the rest, but it will be a loss to the industry if it fades away.
Many people have spoken about virtual trade shows, but you don't get to try the products out and meet the folks to help support those products.
Comdex 2001 Overview
But don't forget that It's can also mean "it has" . This is a normal contraction and those are the only two things it can mean.
Its, on the other hand, it a possessive pronoun (which is easily confused with possessive nouns, which *do* take an apostrophe, hence the confusion.)
It's probably supposed to say "fell 41 percent, or 1 cent, to 1.4 cents". If the stock started at 2.4 cents and dropped 1 cent to 1.4 cents, that's a 41.7% drop. (1/2.4 = 0.4166)
"There's a lesson here. Don't let the commoners into an elite organization. Now were have I heard such refrains before?"
Ya on the face of it, it reeks of elitism but what was Comdex providing for the money an advertister spent?
Eyeballs and bodies on the floor that made purchasing decisions. When you get bodies on the floor that don't even influence purchasing decisions, then the value of Comdex goes down. With less spending in the sectors it becomes even more important to get the best bang for your advertising/promotion dollars.
Further the tech sector evolved into a mass of companies that found it cheaper to run their own targetted campaigns than to rely on tradeshows like Comdex. Look at how companies like Cisco and Microsoft ect. promote their own niche trade shows and give out targetted promotional materials (books, software etc) and in some cases got area VARs in on the act defraying costs and ensuring bodies with at least and interest in the products of the specific vendors. Niche applications also help get targetted responses such as Cisco's Technical Symposiums where hands on testing and deployment of CISCO hardware encourage geeks who influence and can evangelize procurement.
Finally the decline of the "booth babes" and freebie handouts cannot be forgotten. While many find the whole practice lame to the point of satirizing, being in Vegas was a perk for males in which the market was mostly comprised of. When the booths "matured" Comdex became work. Add in the fact that companies were pre-announcing their new products before Comdex and you have a recipe for the demise of Comdex.
Take a look at the new company sponsored symposiums/tradeshows etc. For the most part they do not have booth babes but they do have super knowledgable staff AND very good freebies. If they survive and prosper, they could become the model for future multi vendor trade shows. I man the video games groups do very well at the CES and they have to compete with electronics as well as their entertainment competitors
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The exhibits themselves are always free. You just show up, and register, and you are in.
They charge the exhibitors, and they also charge for the tutorials, and conferences. You can buy a flex-pass for about $3000 and the tutorials are about $800 for a 1 day class.
The keynote speeches are all also free, but you have to collect tickets beforehand.
All of this information is available here.
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