Exhibit Or Walk The Floor?
Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
We write this very carefully as we know that Lawrence will jump in and comment straightaway BUT for a show that values being ‘closed’ and open to buyers only we were a little surprised after Day 1 of KioskCom / The Digital Signage Show in New York to have seen numerous software vendor CEOs walking the floor; Keith Kelsen, Mediatile, Jason Cremins, signagelive, Stephen Nesbitt, Reflect Systems and Brian Dusho, BroadSign were just four that we saw!
If we had spent money exhibiting I think we would be slightly peeved that ‘competition’ was out there walking the floor – even if there is a strongly enfored ‘no-pitching’ policy.
November 11th, 2009 at 16:11 @715
you are right, but at the same time, why dont those cheap asses exhibit? They are willing to pay a flight ticket or to spend a day of their time (measure it in terms of their hourly wage) but not exhibit? Just have a small booth. Dont blame some guy in vegas this lawrence chap, even thought he says it is closed door policy. How can you ever close the door to a tradeshow to certain individuals without being offensive? Its not like they are criminals. They just prefer not to invest in that particular event. But then why do they waste their time visiting if it is not worth it at all?
November 12th, 2009 at 14:08 @630
It was our pleasure to host members of the DailyDOOH this week. We thank you for coming and checking the show out.
I will be happy to answer your question and Roger’s followup comments.
The answer can be summed up rather simply – they got their passes from exhibitors. Exhibitors at The Digital Signage Show and KioskCom have the right to approve anyone they want to see at the show – but these passes are measured and tracked, so that we can demonstrate further that we as show management do not grant them passes. These individuals – and others you may have seen – were granted admission by exhibitors who wanted them to be at the show.
I can tell you with 100% certainty (as I reviewed their applications originally) that the passes for many of those were granted by exhibitors, and not show management. Several others paid for a conference pass to sit in sessions and hear from speakers.
As for Roger’s thoughts, we do not provide complimentary passes from show management for non-exhibiting sellers. I also could not agree more – take a booth, make a statement and show that your company should be taken seriously in this space.