Right, so up at 3AM today to catch a flight out and now, some 21 hours later, i'm able to reflect on my time in Vegas.
Was it worth it? Yes and no.
First off, i'm happy that i got a chance to talk to folks. For all my complaining about Vegas, i love being able to show off what my company does for a living and help spark ideas with people. It's fun watching the light-bulbs go off. That part a definite yes.
Likewise when i could actually talk to some of the other folks demoing stuff, i caught the same kinda vibe. It was cool to talk to folks who knew what it was they were selling and learn what all it could really do.
Now, the show itself? Meh, not so much.
As someone noted, it was kind of like going to a pro sports event. You're not going to see what you think you'll see unless you have nothing but time to look for it. i spent about an hour a day walking the main floors and saw just about every booth there. i didn't really have time to poke anything, i missed tons of stuff, and honestly, the booth babes were cute in a life-sized Barbie-doll sort of way that kinda detracted from the actual goods they were there to be eye-candy for. Much like said sporting events, the best seat is the one you're currently in and reading sites like Engadget, CNet, or even Y!Tech. Finding those folks that really knew the product was kind of a crap shoot. Sometimes you lucked out, most of the time you didn't and got someone who was there to wine and dine potential clients.
Frankly, there was way too much consumer stuff to consume, and what's worse, even if you wanted to, you couldn't actually get most of the stuff on show.
Heh, kinda like the booth babes. Pretty to look at, you're lucky if you can touch anything, but no, you're not going to be bringing them home either.
Save This Page
Your impressions sound a lot like what people have told me E3, the big video game show, was before its demise.