This is not to say that nothing happened on the floor. There were folks watching software demos, and more than one set of shoulders was bent toward the table for serious business talks. Virtually every vendor that I spoke to said that they were likely to attend next year.
One thing you’ve got to give the newspaper industry: it has an amazing capacity to whistle past the graveyard. The white elephant of a workable online revenue model never managed to wholly distract from the excitement editors felt when talking about multimedia platforms their reporters could use, or the hope of publishers when they compared notes on the latest addition that got their Web site a million page views. The vendors continue to come up with newer, faster, cheaper equipment. The iceberg’s either growing wider or has already been hit, but the wine is flowing and the band plays on.
I attended the America East Newspaper conference instead of NEXPO. Why? 3 main reasons:
1. It was much cheaper.
2. The few vendors I wished to see were at both events.
3. I didn't need to attend a 4 day circus.
I can't wait to see the official attendance figures. In Nexpo 2001 the NAA says it was 6580 but estimates were 2000. Following the trend, I put 2008 attendance at 203 people. No wonder it is being held in a hotel next year.
Posted by metaprinter
on Sat 19 Apr 2008 at 02:57 AM