While Comdex is kaput - at least this year - trade show marketing remains an important aspect of the high-tech world. The sands have shifted to smaller, more focused events. It’s not surprising, with Comdex imploding as the tech economy cooled off. High-tech trade show marketing had to take a different course to survive. Trade shows can be a lot of fun, to be sure, and trade show marketing can be highly effective. But only if it’s done right…

I remember being in in the Comdex multimedia hall one year, in the midst of what seemed at the time to be a bomb scare. (If I had to guess at the exact year, it would have probably been ‘93 or ‘94.) The multimedia stuff was crammed into an underground exhibit hall. It was incredibly loud down there - a tough environment for the trade show marketing folks to compete for the attention of the crowd. The alarm sounded in the midst of the multimedia bedlam. This wasn’t long after the first World Trade Center bombing and I admit to being more than a bit paranoid […]