OT: Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld

[Kee Nethery]

On Dec 17, 2008, at 2:23 PM, Bob Sneidar wrote:

> I read an article about this some time back. The conventions used to  
> be affordable, but now the people who put them on really gouge the  
> vendors to the point that it is not even remotely feasible to attend  
> as a vendor, even with the business that may be potentially  
> generated due to their presence their.
>
> If conferences want to prevent their own extinction they had better  
> get a LOT more realistic about what they charge vendors to attend.  
> That goes with ALL businesses these days.

These are numbers from memory and they are probably wrong so don't  
quote them but they are in the ballpark. In the 1 meter by 1 meter  
kiosk boothlets at MacWorld, the boothlet itself is around $3000 and  
if you want shared wireless internet for one computer only thats  
another $1100. The 10 x 10 booths are around $5000 but then you need  
to have a minimum of two people staffing it and you need "a booth"  
which can cost thousands to create and thousands to get assembled by  
trade show workers who don't really care if you are happy with their  
work or not.

We go because it is a very easy place for us to talk to all our  
existing suppliers. Having the boothlet gives us a place to meet and a  
place for people to find us to talk. For us it is worthwhile but the  
prices are as much as they can charge without killing the golden calf  
(oh wait a minute, sounds like the calf just got slaughtered).

Kee Nethery
Kagi