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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."
Why can't the article poster link the google cached pa... oh, wait a second.
How can they be losing money? They can charge almost anything they want for the booths and the big companies will still pay it.
Then they turn around and charge the visitors. They win on both sides.
Key3Media did the last JavaOne too? Does this also mean trouble for that conference?
"Let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be average." - A. W. Tozer
(sounds of hundreds of prostitutes crying over lost revenue)
I've always preferred CeBIT to Comdex anyway. It's more varied in scope.
OLPC Australia
" Can somebody explain to me exactly how a trade show, that which can charge exorbiant fees to booth users, can possibly lose money hand over fist?"
They have the same accountants as the movie industry.
This is what happens when you throw free passes around like they're AOL CDs. Did anyone, ever actually pay to get into Comdex? Well, I suppose the techies and developers may have had to pay but pointy-haired bosses like me always got inundated with free passes from companies we'd never dream of buying from. No wonder it was never a great show...
I'm surprised that Windex---er..COMDEX is still around. A trade show generates interest by interesting, if not innovative product.
Between Microsoft's ability to buy, borrow, steal, or kill ideas or product that they haven't considered or cannot integrate into their operating systems, and a general lack of enthusiasm in the PC industry to think of more ideas that could be stolen, it doesn't surprise me that there's little interest.
I really can't contrast COMDEX's imminent demise to successful shows such as Macworld Expo because Apple has a captive audience of vendors that support their products. COMDEX doesn't have such luxury.
COMDEX should rethink its audience. It's pretty obvious that they have just let things ride over the past few years.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
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.
If I wanted to hang out with a bunch of socially maladjusted, technologically-obsessed cretins I'd stay home and hang out with my friends.
When I started attending in 91 the show literally filled the city, taking the whole LVCC, the whole Sands and space in the Mirage. I haven't been there in a few years but I understand it's less than the whole LVCC now. With that kind of drop in demand they can't charge vendors what they used to.
I went to Comdex in Vegas every year between 1996 and 2000. It went from being a relevant technical showcase to a hangout joint for old ladies when they got bored with the slot machines. It's hard enough to move around the LV Convention Center with 200,000 other technical people, but now you throw in another 50,000 people who don't belong (old ladies and people with STROLLERS for God's sake!, etc), then you add the fact that many of the biggest names don't bother showing up any more, it just isn't worth the time to go.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
Linux folks tried to lighten the place up a few years ago by handing out free CDs in front of the Microsoft booth, but Bill had them escorted off the property. Novell's gone from the show. Sun's gone from the show. Apple's gone from the show. IBM has a token appearance. HP only shows off their new laser printers (woo-hooo....). It's dull and boring.
I remember going back when there were a dozen different computing platforms running a dozen different operating systems. It slowly diminished to the "PowerPC Pavilion" out in the parking lot (bet Bill was happy about that!) against the PC folks in the LVCC+Lower Sands (upper Sands still had some interesting 3rd party stuff). For a couple years after that they had some Linux-specialized groups, but then there was nothing but Windows.
The internet has also made Comdex obosolete. One used to be able to find new products at Comdex, but now everything on display is Old News. We learn about interesting things here on Slashdot WAY before Comdex ever debuts anything. Since there is no new technology there, and pretty much everything is Windows, which we have to use everyday anyway, the only things left are the swag and Bill's keynote.
Personally, I think swag is a better reason to go, but it's really not even worth that anymore. I've been attending Usenix instead for the last couple years, and by contrast it is fun, interesting and refreshing. *shrug*
The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
Heh... you think renting out the entire McCormick Place (Chicago) for a week is cheap?
Anyway - most people who goes there are free-riding; the visitor's pass is "supposed" to be 99 dollars or whatever, but you can get it for free ANYWHERE. in fact you can register for it officially on Comdex website too if you do it early enough. They say it's "limited time only" or some such bs, but that's what it is, bs.
Then again, companies are not showing up to trade shows as much as they used to be, or are renting a smaller booth, becomming a smaller sponsor (i.e. from platinum level down to gold level) or not sponsoring at all. (Sponsoring is when you pay them big bux and they put your logo on the T-shirt / booklets / whatever) - the level of sponsorship determines the size of you logo, where it appears, etc.
An example (not Comdex) on the low-attendence is this year's ITC (International Test Conference), which is one of the most important conference / tradeshow / whatever for the ATE (automated test equipment) manufactures. Teradyne, Credense, NP Test (read: Schlumberger) all decided to not show up at ALL; no booth, no seminar, no salesperson, nothing. These are some of the biggest names in the industry. I think the only two big-names that did show was Advantest and Agilent (I'm not sure about Agilent, actually).
As for real paying visitors, they are dropping even more than the companies - Other conferences actually have REAL SEMINARS where people might pay to see, but Comdex, IIRC, never had anything informational.
Besides, the stupid show went downhill way before the dotcom bubble bursted. Back in 99/00 (i can't remember clearly), they had 1/3 of the floor filled with resellers / distributors that sell cases and powersupplies and such. not even nearly related to "technologically innovative." No new technology, no new information, just a big organized garage sell.
I still got the free passes to go there for a few years even after that, but every year figured that it was not even worth my time since nothing would be interesting there. I do eventually want to go to E3, though - that still have lots of steam and seem to be actually getting bigger.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Me, I love trade shows. More specifically, I love the trade shows I love.
I work out of my house or on client locations most of the year, so trade shows are where I can actually get some networking done. With a focused, industry specific show, a significant portion of my collegues, clients, and potential clients are in one place. Business gets done.
For folks who only get the free exhibit pass and do the show floor, you're missing about 90% of the action, and the 10% you've got left has been rendered somewhat irrevelant by the internet. Sure, trolling the show floor is nice, and you can occassionally see some surprises, or see a product close up and grok it in a way written descriptions didn't work. But, in a four day trade show, I might spend four hours looking at the exhibits.
One thing a good trade show will have is good sessions, taught by people who know what they're talking about. In the dot-com era, there were way too many shows where it was the VP's of marketing up on the stage, but the ones that are left focus much more on people with real-world experience telling their stories and, if they're good, answering questions. War stories can teach a LOT, and an expert can often answer a question in 30 seconds that might take a full day on Google to get straight.
Having a conference pass also helps beyond just doing the conferences. It gets you mingling with the other attendees. There is often free snacks and coffee, and sometimes full meals for attendees as well. Wonderful networking at those. The conference pass also gets you a lot more attention at the booths, because the vendors know that someone with a pass paid money for the show, and immediately consider them a more serious prospect. I've worked both sides of the booth, and the sales managners always stress this point in pre-show prep for those working the booths.
These days, I only go to shows that I'm either speaking at (I do lots of sessions about video compression), or that I have press creditials for (I'm a contributing editor of DV Magazine). Either pass is nice, since you can get into the speaker or press room, which is GREAT networking, plus they normally have broadband, drinks, and snacks, and not just at designated snack time. Wearing a press badge on the show floor can be almost dangerous if the marketing guys see you (the sales guys typically couldn't care less).
The big problem with Comdex is that it is so diffuse, it's hard to imagine it having a focused enough audience to have a good chance of bumping into people into the same stuff you are. The computer industry is so broad, it'd be like having a trade show on "transportation." It underlies so many things, it can't be really treated as a unified whole.
But in general, just going to a show for the exhibit floor is only scratching the surface. Try to get a conference pass, or even try to get a speaking gig if possible. But if you can't swing either, at least try to track down the free vendor classes, and any relevant free Birds of a Feather sessions (generally run in the evening). The one thing the internet can't give us is actually talking to 3D people, so focus on that aspect to get value out of a show.
And if you do go to conferene sessions, ask questions! And it's perfectly expected and accepted to go up to the speaker after the session for followups.
Trade shows I love (being a compression nerd) are:
DVExpo. Lots of classes by practicing video people, very enthusaistic audience. Probably the highest consistant quality of sessions of any show I do.
QuickTime Live: Geeky when it needs to be, but man does Apple know how to throw a party! Also excellent session quality. And catered by Odwalla!
NAB: A huge show for video professionals. Amazing exhibits, and enough different conference tracks to keep things interesting for everybody. The geeky stuff used to be done by DVExpo, who alas don't handle that anymore. Still a fun show.
MacWorld: Verging on diffuse, since people use Macs in so many different ways, but the great Esprit de corps. The Stevenotes really are best experienced in person for maximum RDF impact (and you often get gifts under the seats). I was at the infamous Lou Gestner 3 hour marathon one a few years ago, and man is that a telling contrast!
WEMP: This is put on by the MPEG-4 Industry Forum. I've only gone once, but it was the best in codec nerd love. Truly excellent sessions - it's one thing to read a standard, it's another thing to hear the person who wrote it tell you why it's a certain way.
My video compression blog
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.
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.