Comdex Pursues Edification Rather Than Entertainment

XarsonX writes "Infoworld has an article talking about some of the changes coming to Comdex this year. Amongst other things, a $50 price tag for uninvited attendants, and less free gear handed out. Is it still possible to get enough free vendor-wear to fill your entire wardrobe?"

Comments

You know, because I was wondering

[Hilleh]

Is it still possible to get enough free vendor-wear to fill your entire wardrobe?

Slashdot - facing the important and relevant issues that I am sure confront us all on a daily basis.

Re:You know, because I was wondering

[Angry White Guy]

That's the only reason to go to tradeshows. I have enough pens and mousepads, shirts, jackets, etc to supply the local gradeschool.

That and business cards.

Why else would you go to a computer tradeshow, to pick up chicks?

Re:You know, because I was wondering

[Uart]

Technically since it costs 50 bucks to get in, you can't really get ANY "free" vendor-wear.

*Uart gets his Apple T-Shirts by begging at the Apple store.

Wardrobe

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it still possible to get enough free vendor-wear to fill your entire wardrobe?

No, but i hear there will be a SCO t-shirt burning this year at it..

Re:Wardrobe

[Angry White Guy]

Donate them to charity instead of burning them. That way the current board will know what they're going to look like in five years. Sitting on a street corner with a tin cup and a sco shirt.

Fully clothed?

[I Am The Owl]

Is it still possible to get enough free vendor-wear to fill your entire wardrobe?

You mean there are vendors giving out pants? That's just awesome.

Re:Fully clothed?

[Anonymous Coward]

Pants? You can get the 'Official Slashdot Mumu', for all your 12XL geeking needs!

Re:Fully clothed?

[blibbleblobble]

"You mean there are vendors giving out pants? That's just awesome."

Do debian panties count?

Or a KDE thong?

Advertising

[The Original Yama]

"Is it still possible to get enough free vendor-wear to fill your entire wardrobe?"

What, you actually like being a walking advertising billboard? Some of us have a thing called dignity which prevents us from stooping to such a level.

Re:Advertising

[1u3hr]

Some of us have things called student loans which make it easier.

If you're living on student loans of course you'd travel to Las Vegas and rent a hotel room, in the hope of getting a free T-shirt, some mousepads and AOL CDROMS. All that stuff must be worth at least $9.75.

Re:Advertising

[thogard]

Student loans and Las Vegas? I don't know if it still works but some grad students use to go there for spring break. There were about a minivan worth of EE studetns that would go all put up a bit of money and one guy would deposit it the casino. Then every day he would take out 1/7th and give it back to its owners. From the casino's point of view the guy was a sucker worth a free room and other free stuff. The the students, it was a free trip where they got to camp out in a nice free room.

Well it's make or break time ...

[SuperDuG]

The re-entrenchment of Comdex as a business-focused show is a natural response to Comdex's excessive growth in the late 1990s, when the fall show attracted more than 200,000 attendees annually, Millikin said. "Five years ago, Comdex did not have a defined purpose," he said. This year the show will make a much more concerted effort to attract vendors and attendees interested in specific topic areas such as Web services, security, and open source software, he added.

With this type of decision you have two directions you can go, way up or way down. The problem is that since Comdex didn't define itself, the patrons and vendors of comdex did. They said, "cool new computer stuff that people are trying to make money with", and everyone bought into it, because remember kids computers and computer fields are followed ONLY for the money. Comdex had proof of concepts that were beyond belief but then would become standard in a few years (anyone remember buy-a-car.com?). Not only can you buy used cars in tons of places you can buy them on ebay now too.

If Comdex wants to change the pace of what it does and they want to survive then all the power to them, but you don't start something and then just expect to change it because things aren't going the way you envisioned them.

My prediction ... Comdex isn't even newsworthy in 3 years.

Re:Well it's make or break time ...

[ergo98]

COMDEX became largely irrelevant because of a change of technology that we're all using right now: The Internet. Prior to the Internet, COMDEX was where every vendor would show off their latest wares to the collected media (literally holding its release until the big trade show), and all of the writers for PC Week, PC Magazine, Compute!, STart, and every other magazine would run to the banks of phones to call in their reports about the new Diamond Speedstar 24x or new MFM hard drive. I remember all of the COMDEX special editions packed full of revolutionary new products. With the internet, however, vendors no longer hold their releases, and vendor information is as easy as http://www.somecompany.com. The Internet changed the world more than many of us realize (because it was gradual), and the decline of COMDEX is just another reality of a "new world order".

I went to the LV COMDEX in maybe 1999 and it was, quite literally, a waste of time. No companies were actually releasing products, but instead it was a bunch of brochures that were less comprehensive than you could find on the net, with representatives that barely knew the product. The halls were filled with end users (i.e. non decision makers) who were more concerned with scoring a 5 cent pen or cheesy bag.

COMDEX will never be what it was again, but if they did limit attendance to decision makers at corporations they might have a chance of getting a niche.

cdxpo ????

[Webdude]

So I wonder if cdxpo may take over for comdex then????

http://www.cdxpo.com/

free gear.

[Suppafly]

and less free gear handed out.

Isn't the free gear handed out by the vendors? How does comdex have any control over that? There maybe more free gear this year than ever, they don't know.

T-shirt burning, hell

[Anonymous Coward]

If SCO shows up at COMDEX it's going to be like the stoning scene from Monty Python's "Life of Brian" with IBM as the old guy John Cleese accuses of blasphemy and wants the crowd to stone.

Free Stuff

[GillBates0]

I still fondly remember those good ol' days where companies used to hand out tons of high-quality free stuff at Career Fairs. At a particularly memorable one, the year before last, I managed to grab the following inventory of items:
Google I'm Feeling Lucky T-Shirt
Cisco foldable stapler
IBM Pen and Glow Keychain
IBM FM/AM radio with earphones
Lucent drawstring laundry bag
Microsoft shitty yoyos which doesn't work
Verizon and Metlife frisbees
SGI funky twisty rubbery thing
Siemens marker set
Comcast inflatable ball
Kodak disposable camera
Broadcom fridge magnet
Honda trendy packpack
Texas Instruments CD wallet
EMC2 T-Shirt
On the other hand, this year most companies were handing out only pens and other cheapo stuff, which I thought was below my dignity to collect.

Re:Free Stuff

[liquidsin]

Microsoft shitty yoyos which doesn't work

So their yo-yos are like their servers...they go down but then they won't come back up? *rimshot*

Oh, But They're Not

[Greyfox]

They're going to make enemies of the entire industry trying to destroy one of the most revolutinary concepts to come along this century and no matter what happens to the company they're going to walk away with more money than you or I will ever make in a lifetime.

not new to most of us...

[Lumpy]

Almost all the shows have faded into bland-ness, if they havent disappeared altogether.. Hell it started 2 years ago when CES became a suits-2-suits venture, comdex that year also was more toned down and you had to fight to get goodies out of the vendor booths.... I.E. "Oh you're a develper? here's a pen..." instead of that T-shirt or Hat he handed to the guy with the suit that was just there...

when things started to tighten up, the free-stuff is the first to go.. Although I do remember both novell and Microsoft handing out Gobs of stuff last year wiuth "KEEP IT LEGAL" all over it..

Vendors are finding that going to shows is more of an expense than the leads it generates, and most companies have stopped sending people for a while now... In fact cince January last year the company's policy has been no shows on the company dime, and you must take your own vacation time for them.

Shows were a waste of company time anyways.. I hated spending 2 months after fighting off sales calls from every vendor I gave my smartcard to in order to get their cheezy crap.. Most of the keynote speakers usually didn't have much to say other than the light coating designed for the suits to hear. Hopefully in a few years it will bounce back, but I doubt it... I think the time for them has past...

I feel sick

[Dogtanian]

I hated spending 2 months after fighting off sales calls from every vendor I gave my smartcard to in order to get their cheezy crap..

An awful realisation just leapt up on me. What if they weren't just giving away all that stuff out of the goodness of their hearts? What if it was all just a cynical ploy to drum up business and make money?...

I hope this isn't true, and that we can still trust computer salespeople, but if it isn't.... folks, I have to break this to you. It looks like Microsoft and IBM might be starting to value money over the affection of computer users everywhere.