A good point Hugh, especially seeing as there are many vendors, especially
long term attendees, that I didn't see in Orlando and some that dropped off
in Vegas. It was a shame not seeing your smiling face in Orlando, but based
on the experience in Vegas (and other personal issues), I can understand
your decision to drop out of the rotation after...what was it? 17 years?? 

Given SF's Moscone Center is an EXTREMELY STRONG Union venue, one that
disallows exhibitors from carrying ANYTHING in across the threshold except
their personal belongings for their booths, I can only imagine the hit
vendors are going to take on setup and tear down this year.  

And seeing as the hall is only open Sunday and Monday this year, that means
paying OT for setup on Saturday afternoon/evening and the same for tear down
on Monday evening to avoid extra space charges for Tuesday.  With SF being
such a busy city and a tourist draw, and the Conference actually starting on
Sunday... you have to wonder how many attendees are going to be cruising the
Hall.

Even Mac World had a tough time luring a lot of vendors in this year, seeing
as nothing is sold on the Exhibit Hall floor- the vendors do get an
opportunity to showcase their products and interact with attendees,
hopefully developing leads for future sales, but the market has changed.

Makes you wonder about the future of trade shows, conferences and the like
with training and travel money getting tighter, costs getting higher, and
the volume of web based opportunities growing by leaps and bounds... who
knows how long these things "International/National" will remain around? 

Larry
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