Posted by
Barry Siskind
Community Manager
It was almost two decades ago when I heard Bill Gates, then the Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, deliver a keynote at CEBIT in Hanover, Germany. Needless to say it was standing room only. The buzz was incredible. The keynote was one of the highlights of the event.
For the past 20 years major shows such as CES have used the star-power of Gates and his successor Steve Ballmer whose keynotes were the most anticipated kick-off to the event.
In an article in Mashable Tech all this is coming to an end in 2012 when Microsoft will host its last keynote and will not take exhibit space. http://mashable.com/2011/12/21/microsoft-ces-keynotes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29
According to Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications, Frank X. Shaw: “We have decided that this coming January will be our last keynote presentation and booth at CES. We’ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won’t have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.”
Microsoft has given CES a full year to develop alternate plans. But what if they hadn’t? Think about your keynote line-up. It is easy to be seduced by high profile brands and their spokespeople to create glitter and excitement in our events but growing dependant and perhaps complacent on these attractions can create a potentially life-threatening risk to the event when one corporation changes its strategy.
It’s a lesson for us all.
Hello
Is this another example of organisers having to listen to the exhibitors more ? I remember reading in this colums about other big exhibitors wanting the exhibition industry to change.
35 years ago organisers were “king” and they just had tofill in the holes in the market – today the organisers need to reflect and they do ! But when it comles to decisions, does the exhibitors opinions are really heard and are they taken into consideration ?
I just wondered.
Koen Bogaert – Publiganda nv – Belgium
I think that more organizers are listening. We’ve come a long way. But your comment “are they really listening” is well stated. We can never become complacent.