The sublime to the ridiculous
You never know who or what you are going to see at a technology trade show. I remember going to a show in Las Vegas and hearing John Chambers speak, and not five minutes later getting an autograph from Hulk Hogan. Thomas Jefferson and George Jefferson have more in common than those two. On my second day as an Advanstar Communications employee, I went to a cable industry show in Anaheim. In addition to the vendors with new products on display, there were several cable stations there advertising new programs. I’m not sure if it was accidental or if the organizers of the show had a wicked sense of humor, but somehow one of the adult channels ended up with a booth next to one of the religious stations. In retrospect, I guess it was a pretty good idea. For all those who felt guilty about getting pictures taken with scantily clad models, there was a place nearby to do penance.
I’ve been to enough trade shows to know that there are two things I can always count on: 1) unbeknownst to me, the booth number for a company that I am meeting with will change at the last minute; and 2) each meeting that I have scheduled will be located as far as physically possible from the meeting immediately preceding it. These unavoidable situations used to annoy me, but not since a good friend taught me a prayer she learned at her AA meetings. I’m paraphrasing a little, but it goes like this: "Grant me the serenity to accept the meetings I cannot change, the courage to change the meetings that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Welcome to Anaheim
TeleCon 2011 will offer an opportunity to celebrate the best in our industry, and also a chance to sit back and reflect on all that has taken place over the last year. I’m very excited about the show, and if you read the pages that follow you will understand why. For example, the top dogs from some of the leading technology companies, including WebEx, Akamai and Broadwing, will be on hand to offer keynote speeches. There will be an industry round table discussion on where videoconferencing is headed, not to mention the more than 200 industry-leading companies that will be at the Anaheim Convention Center to exhibit the latest hardware, software and networking solutions.
The show also will feature tutorials on a wide range of topics and sessions in four distinct forums: Collaboration and Conferencing, Broadband Access Technologies, Streaming4Business and e-learning.
There’s no doubt the show will be an educating and entertaining experience. I say entertaining, because one evening the music of the great Neil Diamond will be featured. Unfortunately Neil won’t be in Anaheim himself, but on hand will be the next best thing: SuperDiamond, a popular Neil Diamond tribute band. I’m looking forward to singing along to classic tunes such as "Cracklin Rosie," "Sweet Caroline" and "Cherry Cherry." TCM
Paul DeVeaux