re: Supercomm Returns?I hear and feel your pain "seven". Something needs to be done to get the customers back to the show. Perhaps not scheduling it in the last week of a quarter might help...
re: Supercomm Returns?Tradeshows are useful when there is a need for a many-to-many interaction. However, given there are 20 carriers in the world that move the needle, and given any vendor will show up at their door at will, there is really no need to go to a show.
Unless you are a tier 2/3 rural carrier. Then it is useful. But Tier 3 carriers don't generate enough money to even pay the booth bills.
re: Supercomm Returns?Well we need smaller booths and lower prices.
NXT was just plain dumb. Supercomm was a good brand.
I like Tier3 customers thank you very much - they are the early adopters of new technology. The Tier1 (bad verizon, ATT) customers are the very late adopters and do not generate any profits for those selected !
re: Supercomm Returns?What's everyone's thought about city selection on these shows as well? Obviously city preference would draw more customers in one plce versus another. From a vendor's prospective traveling to cool cities was a fun but having it sit in Atlanta for as many years in a row as long as it did was a drag.
re: Supercomm Returns?Well we need smaller booths and lower prices.
The cost of setting up a booth is just stupid. Conference organizers are not going to get cost-lowering thru their thick collective head until revs are down by 20-30% and many start to lose their jobs.
I completely agree. The cost of "booth" marketing has gotten out of control.
I go way back.. to the times when Supercomm was actually run by and sponsored by the phone companies.
There was a time when these shows were useful.
These days, I have shut down all marketing costs for my company with the exception of travel to see customers directly and a web site for downloading data / spec sheets.
No shows, no booths, no literature, no advertising.
My marketing is to hire sales staff that already know the customers, so I don't have to do any customer outreach.
Also, to the point of view of costs.. it would be acceptable if you could actually get any business moving at these shows. But long ago all the real decision makers stopped going.
In the old days, when Supercomm was actually sponsored by and RUN by RBOC's, the show moved from city to city.
I remember a great Supercomm in New Orleans for instance. Others in Chicago and Dallas....and west coast...
The RBOC's each took turns sponsoring it and hence it was in different places each year. And since it was located near RBOC major decision centers, real key staff came to the show.
Again, the show was sponsored by and paid for by the RBOC's.
Later, after the "BOCs" sold the show off to a "trade show company" is when that trade show company decided to keep it in Atlanta. This was the beginning of the end. Not simply because it was always in Atlanta, but because the amount of content (conferences, talks, etc.) that was USEFUL to the carriers went to nearly zero. All we get these days is "marketing" wrapped up to look like a research paper at these shows.
Dunno. Doesn't roll of the tongue easily.
ph