I read today that Comdex, the biggest tech trade show around, has cancelled their November Vegas show. The Show Has Gone On for 25 years, but not this year.
Is this a sign that the economy is still sucking wind? Is it that Comdex itself has run out of gas? Or trade shows in general?
I know that the many shows I’ve worked seem to blend together in my mind. The exception being the Linux-focused ones, which seem to bring more creativity to them. At most shows, I breeze past the $100,000+ booths and look at the grubby tables in the back. That’s where you find the really innovative stuff! And Linux shows are full of those tables.
The Linux Expo in Raleigh a few years back was a really interesting show. Lots of buzz about the stuff seen there. It was, of course, right before the local Linux company went public, and arguably the height of the dot-com boom. It was a fun show, and quite rare for Raleigh’s small convention center to host any kind of trade show at all. Seems like shows went downhill from there.
Maybe Comdex shutting down is a sign of the PC industry moving on. I think Bill Gates has probably had a few sleepless nights worrying if the Glory Days of the PC have faded away.
I think we’re into the post-Comdex phase, for good.
But where will all those booth babes work now?!
Funny you should mention that. The very last trade show I went to, a county-wide one on Long Island, there was a booth of booth babes. Three or four bored-looking women in formal dress, just standing around. It was a company that rented models for trade shows.
They looked quite out of place, especially considering it was a local-business expo rather than a trade-show proper.