CRN's Industry Hall Of Fame Ceremony Promises To Be A Comdex Highlight

There will be plenty of talk during the show about how much smaller the attendance is compared to the ridiculous crowds we battled in the mid-1990s when two-hour cab lines and overcrowded exhibit halls were the norm.

As someone who has been attending the show since its earliest days, there is one thing that has remained constant. That is that the show offers a unique opportunity to meet with more customers, see more products, and rub elbows with more executives and influencers than could possibly be accomplished on the very best-planned road tour.

The difference, of course, is that years ago we all spent the bulk of our time on the show floor going from booth to booth meeting executives and touring product lineups. Today, most of the action happens in hotel suites where we discuss industry issues and business over presentations and marketing pitches.

For years I've always called in a favor or two to secure rooms for me and my staff at the Las Vegas Hilton because it was attached to the convention center. Today, we hole up at the Hard Rock Hotel because we can zip to any other hotel from there easily and, more importantly, because it's the location for the biggest event of the week: The CRN Industry Hall Of Fame.

The Hall Of Fame, now in its seventh year, has become so popular we have to cap the attendance,solution providers obviously get preferential treatment. Seven years ago we launched the event in a tent outside of the hotel when we inducted Don Estridge, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Steve Jobs, Chip Lacy, Steve Raymund and a number of others. Each year the event has gotten bigger, and at this point it's as close to the Academy Awards as anything outside of Hollywood.

This year's induction promises to be the best ever with Bill Cosby as our Master of Ceremonies and comedic talent. For those of you who can wrestle up a ticket, I can promise it will be the highlight of your trip.

First and foremost, we have some incredible inductees including Dennis Hayes, the inventor of the modem; Jim Manzi, the Lotus Notes pioneer and former CEO of the company; Judy Odom, co-founder of Software Spectrum; Jeff Raikes, one of the long-term drivers of Microsoft overall but especially its indirect channel sales strategy; Phil Corcoran and Chuck Wolande, who together founded and made Comark a leading solution provider; Bob Metcalfe, the father of Ethernet and founder of 3Com; Ralph Syzgenda, the CIO of General Motors who drove the development of the OnStar navigation system; and Michael Dell, who really needs no formal introduction.

Each one of these entrepreneurs has been instrumental in shaping the industry, and many of them have added a level of character and humor to the market that has made this such a fun and exciting industry to be a part of for so many years.

Our alliance with the Computer History Museum will begin bringing this event to life year-round. The museum's new facility in Mountain View, Calif., will soon unveil a Hall Of Fame exhibit honoring not only this year's inductees but the more than 50 executives who have been inducted previously.

We have had some wonderful laughs during previous induction ceremonies, and this year promises to be especially fun given what I have seen in the form of the prep work from each inductee.

I hope to see you there. If not, we will highlight portions of the event on the Web site following the ceremony.

Make something happen. I can be reached at (516) 562-7812 or via e-mail at [email protected].