Love It Or Hate It, Comdex Produced Lots Of Memories And Business

For 25 years Comdex was the show we all loved to hate. Up until the past few years, when it was obviously struggling to find its value in a changing industry, we all made a sport of complaining about it. We complained about two-hour cab lines and crowded show floors, where not even God could help you make a meeting that required you to walk from the north hall to the south hall in just 15 minutes. And who can forget that wonderful feeling after a long day of endless walking when, while cutting through a vendor's booth, you stepped onto a heavily padded rug?

But for all its pain and excitement, you hadn't arrived in this industry unless you were a regular at Comdex and could recognize dozens of people in the crowd.

All of us have stories upon stories about Comdex. The very best of them are best left untold and, as such, will remain so. The show itself, of course, was launched by Sheldon Adelson, a Boston-based entrepreneur who got the idea while returning from another trade show, when he happened to read a story about the emerging dealer channel in Computer Systems News (CSN), a CMP Media publication. The show was launched in 1979, and two years later CRN (which back then went by its original name, Computer Retail News, and later Computer Reseller News) was spawned from CSN.

In the early days, and even not so early days, Comdex was where we went for the great debate about what would drive sales and where the industry was headed in the next year. We debated Apple systems vs. PCs, OS/2 vs. Windows, Microchannel vs. the open bus, the Network PC vs. the intelligent PC, and untold other issues that really did matter at one time but today are meaningless.

Some years I must have had 30 interviews with 30 different clone manufacturers, all of whom were convinced they would be the one to take down IBM. In the 1980s, those of us on the reporting circuit could easily stop Bill Gates, Rod Canion, Philippe Kahn, Jim Manzi or others as they walked across the floor"often winding up with a great story.

Our ShadowRAM parties would often find Gates, Manzi and Kahn together at the same event.

For weeks leading up to the show, the pages of CRN would be packed with news stories about new products that vendors were trying to keep under wraps until the show.

Comdex was also the place where you could finally put a face to a voice you talked to for months but never had the opportunity to actually meet.

It was also the end of the year in many ways. You came back and it was Thanksgiving and the rest of the holidays. Budgets were finalized for the new year, and there was enough information gathered at the show to carry you for a month or so.

The last few years have seen more than just a decline in the size of the show. The exciting rush of new product introductions is now a trickle, and they certainly do not all come in the fall.

Comdex, while still offering the efficiency of being able to have a lot of meetings at the same place in a very short period of time, was attracting fewer and fewer of the right people. Those who did come often were in and out in a day.

The big question that remains is whether the industry needs a major gathering in Las Vegas in the fall to debate the issues and prep for the new year.

I guess time will tell, but for the first time in 20 years, I'm making other plans for the week before Thanksgiving.

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