Tech exhibit or football? Both have a downside
By MIKE BERMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
September 17, 2003

It's Monday night.

It's the middle of September.

And you have a choice: Do you sit at home slurping soda and eating munchies, watching the Dallas Cowboys beat your New York Giants? Or do you give in to your geekish tendencies and spend the evening with other computer-types at the Mobile Focus/Digital Focus gala in downtown Manhattan?

Tough choice!

But, being a true geek, I made the trip to the Manhattan Pavilion on West 18th Street, empty bag in tow (for all the goodies the exhibitors try to entice you with at these shows).

But wait a minute! Was I in the right place? I could actually see bare floor! And there were several feet of space between each cluster of booths. No way! This couldn't be the PepCom event that had become famous for overwhelming us with more vendors than we could possibly see in three hours, with hundreds of folks like me jamming the aisles.

And where were all the tee-shirts, hats, pens and calculators that we have come to expect? My bag was half empty.

This event is held every year the night before the opening of TechXNY, the CMP computer show that swallowed up PCXPO a few years ago. And, truthfully, it and another off-site event - ShowStoppers - have always been THE places to meet with the innovators in the industry.

But this year was different.

I was able to make my rounds - from table to table - in less than an hour, which included chatting with friends I had made in the industry during the past umpteen years.

Microsoft was there. So were Palm, Xerox, HP and Gateway. But you don't go to these shows to see them. You, instead, go to these shows hoping to spend the evening gawking and drooling over some new, innovative geek toy that someone pieced together in his garage or some new piece of software that you're convinced will revolutionize the industry.

Where have they all gone?

Oh, there were a couple of new devices that piqued my interest - a small camera from DejaView Inc. that can attach to your eyeglasses, hat or lapel; and a tablet computer from Motion Computing that runs so cool that it doesn't need a fan.

But these were the exceptions rather than the rule.

Now, I don't wear blinders and I have seen the toll the economy has been taking on the major computer trade shows. In fact many folks in the industry I've spoken with have cut back on the number of trade shows at which they'll exhibit to two or three.

Fewer vendors results in less coverage in the press, which can also have a devastating effect on the industry.

ShowStoppers, which has been a staple at PCXPO for as long as I can remember, was cancelled a month before the show opened, but not because of a lack of exhibitors. The event's organizers feared that PCXPO wouldn't attract enough members of the press to benefit their exhibitors.

We'll have to see how all this shakes out, but pardon me if I'm a bit pessimistic. Looking on the bright side, I was able to attend the show and make it home in time to watch my beloved Giants fall to Dallas in overtime.

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