Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
We have heard lots of anecdotal evidence that New York’s Customer Engagement Technology World a few weeks back was a very successful event. In terms of numbers it definitely was…
#CETW day one (one hour in)
However, to the chagrin of many in the industry, JD Events, the owners of Customer Engagement Technology World seem to insist on the west coast / east coast flip flop of events in the SAME year, meaning that the next Customer Engagement Technology World is being held at the Moscone Centre in San Francisco on the 28th – 29th March 2012.
That of course is only two weeks after #dse2012 being held, as usual in Las Vegas (although slightly later in 2012 than in previous years, it’s the 6th – 9th March in 2012 whereas it’s usually in February). Whilst Lawrence and others involved with #CETW will tell you that “their audience is different” that clash of dates doesn’t (to us at least) make any sense whatsoever.
I think it’s safe (and fair to say) that #CETW in San Francisco last time around (in 2011 it was it’s first year in Frisco having been held in previous years in Las Vegas in the April timeframe) was having (almost) to get itself going again from a standing start (name change plus venue change).
What will be really interesting come March 2012 is how many of the stalwart Digital ScreenMedia Association members (#CETW is the official DSA show of course) exhibit at (a) both or (b) only one or the other.
Our betting is that those DSA members who are predominantly digital signage related will be exhibiting at #dse2012 and the ‘other’ kiosk and inkjet printer folks will be at #CETW.
Now that might seem like a simple (and very unfair) generalisation but I bet you that we are not close off the mark.
Does the #CETW brand need to consist of both an East coast and West coast event (in the same year)? The organisers will tell you that it does though we think that many in the industry would argue that it doesn’t.
November 19th, 2011 at 13:49 @617
There is little doubt that the CETW and DSE events are very different venues, and their organizers have committed to very different strategies. So they should attract different constituencies, association politics aside. At the same time, I think that many vendors, who generate the critical exhibit hall revenues, have re-thought their overall approach to trade show marketing… I know we have. So it will be a fluid environment. The marketplace has a way of getting things right.