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The conventional wisdom for
putting together a successful trade show is losing ground, thanks to a show you
probably have either never heard of or haven't ever taken the time to visit:
Computex. I was fortunate enough to witness this event, held this week at the
Taipei convention center. Yes, Taipei, as in Taiwan. It was a fascinating trip,
even though as I write this I am still suffering massive jet lag from traveling
halfway around the world.
Conventional trade show
wisdom goes something like this: Pick a date and stick to it, so your vendor
exhibitors can time their product announcements to the calendar when your event
occurs. Make sure you invite loads of press and have plenty of new product
announcements. Attract attendees with an educational program of loads of
conference sessions. Have a few big-name keynote CEOs to headline each day's activities
to generate more buzz. Combine forces with a bunch of different sponsors to
have shows-within-your-show to appeal to a wider audience. And hope that the
number of attendees is more than last year, to prove that your show has plenty
of influence, draw and buzz.
Well, that's the old-school
trade show. Computex does none of these things. There isn't an educational
program to speak of, and I couldn't find more than a handful of press events.
Let's face it: Those methods -- used primarily at US shows -- aren't much more
than to bring out regurgitated marcom materials anyway and a chance for vendors
to flog their wares yet one more time. And rather than Bill Gates doing YACK
(Yet Another Comdex Keynote), we had the GM of TI's DSL business talking about
convergence, in a country where DSL and broadband access is doing better than
in the United States. There weren't multiple tracks or shows-within-the-show
either. It was the floor, and little else, that mattered.
Computex this year was
bigger and better than any Stateside show that I have attended in the past
several years. It had nothing to do with keynotes, conference sessions, or the
number of people walking the show floor. In fact, Computex -- by U.S. standards
-- only attracts somewhere around 20,000 attendees, which is about what a
smallish trade show draws in the States. For comparison purposes, Comdex last
year brought in more than three times that number, according to some estimates.
But both shows had the same number of exhibitors (about 1,200), although of
course Comdex was spread across more acreage of show floor space than Computex.
The acreage issue is an
interesting one. I would much rather wander down an aisle of smallish booths
with products jammed in than have to walk past YAAVE (Yet Another Audio-Visual
Extravaganza), complete with blaring music, a carnival barker-type hired for
the purposes of drawing a crowd in, and a large stage. Computex, by comparison,
just had one or two people in the aisle working to attract the attendees
walking by. And was far more effective. The organizers also limit booth sizes
by a strict program that is based on the overall revenue of the company, making
it a much more sane show.
One solution provider and white box builder that I spoke to
who has been coming to Computex and Comdex for many years feels that the two
offer differing advantages. Comdex is where he meets and checks out his
US-based competition. Computex is where he does business, finds his sources and
closes deals. "The same people from Computex can be found in the Sands or
lurking on the periphery of Comdex," he told me.
The Computex show is
usually held in the beginning of June, and that is when it is scheduled for
2004. This year we had the debacle of SARS and wisely the organizers postponed
the show to the end of September. It paid off -- they had more exhibitors, up
about five percent from last year. And the later date, the first time in the
show's 23-year history that it was held in the fall, didn't deter attendees
from crowding the very small aisles.
I was a bit nervous about
going to Taiwan for Computex. Maybe it was the language barrier: it is hard
enough to travel in a country where you don't know the language, let alone
understand the alphabet it is written in. But I felt right at home walking
around the show floor. All the signage is in English, and there were plenty of
products to check out. I'll
mention one by Goldensoft Technology (goldensoft.com.tw) that caught my
attention: it is a small PCI card that you install in your Windows PC and with
a separate partition on your hard disk you can recover your entire system in
about 10 seconds. The booth spokespeople were fluent in English too and gave a
great demo.
Maybe it is time to
acknowledge that the new brain trust of the computing universe has shifted from
the San Andreas fault line of California to the other side of the Pacific Rim,
and that Taiwan may be where real innovation is happening. After all, most of
the world's motherboards, components, and notebooks are made in Taiwan. But Taiwan
isn't just about building expansive new fabrication plants due to the low wages
and cheap materials and real estate costs. It is about having a capitalistic
economic engine that is driven by the onrushing demand for cheap Chinese
computers, as mainland citizens ramp up their demands. All of this means that the next round
of interesting software will be written in Mandarin, not English.
As an example, I met with
the IT manager of Taiwan's McDonalds. The 300-plus stores in Taiwan are all
fully wired with high-speed ADSL lines back to headquarters, and all now offer
wireless Internet access for a modest hourly fee. This is way ahead of what
McDonalds is doing elsewhere, including in the States, or even Starbucks for
that matter. (You can expect an article about it shortly in the pages of
VARBusiness.) A combination of cheap broadband connectivity and universal
coverage across Taiwan, coupled with forward-thinking ISPs and some clever
programming have made this possible.
As another example, I was
treated to a tour of AU Optronics, which is investing heavily in making LCD
panels and LCD TVs. It was a modern and clean office that would fit in quite
nicely in Silicon Valley, only it was humming with people and covered an area
that no sane CEO would pay for even at today's depressed California real estate
prices. The management proudly
proclaimed their technology firsts for their plant, something I think they
justifiably deserve.
I found Computex -- and the
small parts of Taiwan that I visited -- to be an exciting and vibrant place,
full of new and interesting products. The booth personnel were knowledgeable
about their wares and the sheer number of products crammed into the Taipei
convention center was enormous. There was a level of excitement and interest on
the part of the attendees that I haven't seen in any U.S.-based show in recent
memory.
Computex' roots is the
component industry, and yes, there were plenty of vendors hawking see-though PC
cases and motherboard fan assemblies and USB hard drives of all shapes and
colors. But there were plenty of other products on display as well, including
innovative NAS, Internet appliances, and networking products that I spent the
most time examining. Put this show on your calendar for next year, both as an
exhibitor and as an attendee. You'll find it worth the trip. And start thinking
about how you can write some software in Mandarin, too.
Entire contents copyright 2003 by David Strom,
Inc.
David Strom, dstrom@cmp.com, +1 (516) 562-7151
Port Washington NY 11050
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