I moderated five sessions (on virtualization) at Interop Las Vegas last week. Herewith, some thoughts on that show, and on trade shows in general.
First off, I think Lenny Heymann, Manuela Farrell, Andy Saldana, the Interop show network crew and the rest of the Interop management team deserve a major shout-out, for running the show well, treating speakers well and helping to revive a show that many perceived was moribund, if not on its last legs, not too long ago. And I think that the Interop show (which I also participated in last October in New York after several years away) is playing out an evolution of trade shows I and others have been predicting for a while.
Specifically, my impression is that the hottest, highest-value events at Interop Las Vegas were the educational sessions, including but definitely not restricted to the ones in which I participated. The show floor was decent, but not all that exciting to me or to others with whom I spoke at the show. But every person with whom I spoke who attended a session got value out of it, and seemed excited to have learned and/or validated things they could take home and use and/or do.
There were a few weirdnesses at Interop, at least to me. Most notable among these was the fact that keynote addresses were streamed live on the Web, but could not be viewed on many if not most mobile devices that were not traditional laptops. Given that the keynote venue was almost always full to over-capacity and that many speakers and media attending the conference carried various tablets and other mobile devices, this seems…well, weird. But otherwise, the show seemed to hum right along, with last-minute speaker challenges addressed graciously and efficiently.
If you exhibit at trade shows and conferences, think seriously about upping your company's participation in educational sessions and similar interactions. It may be worth reducing or eliminating entirely the expense and difficulty of mounting a major show floor exhibit, unless you're required to exhibit to sponsor or participate in such sessions. (A hotel suite to which you can invite hand-selected visitors during the day and house a staffer or two at night may make a lot more economic and marketing sense.)
If you go to trade shows and conferences, spend a bit more time examining and planning your time at relevant sessions. And work with your colleagues to share and distribute session attendance intelligently, and to make sure all relevant courseware makes it back home in a usable, shareable form. And it wouldn't hurt to collaborate on a post-event report that summarizes relevant highlights and gathers links to any useful materials available online. (The good folks at Interop make all session presentations available for download with user IDs and passwords provided by show organizers.)
Trade shows and conferences are typically expensive, disruptive events for exhibitors, speakers and attendees alike. But that doesn't mean they don't have value. Especially as they continue to evolve, whatever you can do to maximize that value to you personally and to your organization will help to justify the effort and costs -- and maybe free up more time to consume the free food and drink almost always available somewhere, and to make and deepen those personal connections...
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