Confessions On A Conference Floor

As I walked around CES two weeks ago, I kept wondering what percentage of the companies whose booths I passed would conclude, after the show, that the return was worth the investment in time, headcount, energy and money. Some companies had massive spreads, others had tiny enclaves; check out my photo gallery, and you'll see examples of both extremes along with points in-between. Some didn't have a booth at all; instead they relied on small enclosed meeting rooms….glorified cubicles with doors and ceilings, really….in the back of the upper LVCC South Hall. And some, whether to save money or to escape the crush and din of the official conference venues (or perhaps for both reasons), instead chose to go with off-the-beaten-path hotel suites. None of the companies I met with held meetings in Henderson, but I heard a few horror stories….

Rogue Amoeba (a company who has, I must say, both great products and a great blog) wasn't at CES, but they were at the Macworld Expo. In light of my return-on-investment query at the beginning of this writeup, I found their two-part post-conference analysis, 'Costs' and 'On The Show Floor', very interesting. In case you ever find yourself in Rogue Amoeba's shoes or, for that matter, the shoes of the developer of USB Rocket Babes, you might want to give it a close read before you sign on the conference commitment line.

Followup: Part Three of Rogue Amoeba's series, 'Decisions, Decisions' is now published. It looks like there's one final part still to come, sometime next week.

More Followup: Ars Technica just posted an interesting interview with Rogue Amoeba's CEO. And here's the concluding fourth part of the company's conference critique-and-suggestion series.