Ron Lindeboom
2
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
-
[Randall Raymond] “That’s certainly true of software, especially where a trial download is available. Software companies are better off spending ad money with the Cow – as long as you keep your rates fair…;-)
But from the shooter’s side it’s all about hardware. Personally, I wouldn’t buy an 8k tripod without TRYING it and every other tripod in that range. There’s a long list that needs hands-on experience, and you know it and cannot (and never will be able) to provide that experience here.”
I would agree on both points, Randall.
In point one, I like your line of reasoning, I like it a lot. ;o)
On point two, you outline a valid reason to go to NAB. If I were a shooter, I’d go if I was in the market for a camera. This, as I know I could see all of them in one place. I know that while I may not get to put my hands on any of them for any real length of time, still it will exceed the amount I could get my hands on them online. ;o)
Local dealers can fill in for some users but only to a point, as I know few dealers that carry everything that you see on the floor at NAB. (Well, except for the New York City mega-dealers and not everyone feels comfortable working with them as they can have a meat market mentality where the customer is 1/10th as important as the wallet they bring with them — as Steve Wargo spells out in one of his most react posts.)
Ron Lindeboom
-
[Steve Wargo] “The views and opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone and are the result of 25 years in this business and almost 40 years of being in business in general.”
And that’s why you’re always fun to read, Steve. (Except when you are wrong about me — but you are right about everyone else though, so keep it up.)
:o)
Ron Lindeboom
-
[Randall Raymond] “…there may be other factors.”
Oh, indeed there are. ;o)
Another factor is the fact that for many users, they can and do get quite enough of their information online to make their buying decisions.
Oh, it’s nice to walk through a hall and discover the unheard of heretofore gold nugget on the showfloor, but as I mentioned to Nick in my response to him, I am discovering new things almost daily on the Net. I think many people do and so their need for booth forays is likely less than some.
But the part I will always miss by not going anymore is the people. That was the part that both Kathlyn and I liked best. That we will miss.
…oh, and the opportunity to do the show stopper COW marketing ploy that I always wished I could pull off but the one which Kathlyn cringed whenever I mentioned it. What was that? Glad you asked, Randall. It was the ultimate COW schtick and involved hiring Las Vegas showgirls dressed in skin tight spandex orange and white cow spotted costumes with udders flailing as they walked down in the pelvic area. Cool, eh?
Oh, don’t like that one either, huh? Well, many didn’t and so I never did it but what a chuckle I get out of thinking of a few orange and white spotted showgirls walking around the NAB exhibit halls with “CreativeCOW.net” emblazoned on their backside.
Ever the ham,
Ron Lindeboom
-
-
Randall:
The profits to merely “carry on,” eh? I think that NAB is “carrying on” quite nicely, thank you, and is becoming increasingly accustomed to the style in which they growingly aspire to merely carry on. ;o)
Over the years, I have done shows and paid fees in Los Angeles, New York City, New Orleans, Reno, Nashville and Las Vegas. Of them all, New York is by far the most expensive. But I don’t think that Las Vegas is cheap by any means. In fact, it too is becoming increasingly expensive — so much so that it is just another facet of the cost that is helping to destroy these kinds of shows and in doing so, is putting people out of work.
Don’t think so? Read the MSNBC story in which the Consumer Electronics Show talks about their reasons for getting out of Las Vegas after the next show.
But for many companies it’s the space rates that are the biggest rate charged by the show and you think it incidental, eh? I know companies in this industry that tell me quite regularly that the cost of their booth is a year-to-year item. What do I mean by that? Merely that it costs them the year in front of them to hopefully generate the dollars to pay for the booth rental they just did.
Hardly incidental.
Some of these companies are waking up to the fact that it’s a ridiculously expensive treadmill and are beginning to refuse to play. Bravo, me says. I wondered how long it was going to take and I applaud Apple and Avid and know they are just the signal fires of what lies ahead for NAB if the organization doesn’t start weighing their real needs against their apparent greed. Yes, there is greed regularly found in even supposed non-profit organizations. Happens all the time.
As I said before, DV Expo once filled both of the huge halls in the Los Angeles Convention Center, occupying both exhibit levels of each hall and even the basement for registration. The walkways, upper and lower, between the two halls, were used for classrooms and meetings. It was huge. It was increasingly expensive. Companies found other ways to reach the audience. The last few years it has gotten so small you need a flashlight, a magnifying glass and a guide just to find it. Another year or two and I predict that they will blow out the candle on that one.
Ditto for SIGGRAPH which continues to shrink from its halcyon days of yore when they could fill all the halls of the New Orleans Convention Center and the Los Angeles Convention Center. Today, they could bring that show here to San Luis Obispo County and I think we could accommodate them here in the boonies of nowheresville.
If NAB doesn’t listen to the market, then they will find that in not learning from the mistakes of the other shows around them, they too are going to become The Great I Was.
You think the costs incidental, eh? I guess the companies writing the checks for this one disagree with you, Randall. And in the end, it’s the decision of the jury that writes the checks that really counts in this court of public opinion.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
Join the COW’s LinkedIn Group
Now in the COW Magazine: Commercials. A look at the history, strategy, techniques and production workflows of successful commercials. All brought to you by some of the COW’s brightest members. Accept no substitutes!Would you like to be in Creative COW Magazine with your story or contribution? Contact me.
Do you have your complimentary subscription to Creative COW Magazine yet?
-
[Rich Rubasch] “With the major players pulling out, maybe this is a good year for the small guys to either upgrade their space for no extra cost, or get a sweet deal.”
NAB doesn’t give sweetheart deals, that is why the majors pulled out.
I won’t tell you what they usually pay but trust me on this, Apple pays so little to go to many shows that you and I often pay more to attend the show. That’s the power you get when you can deliver 30,000 people or more to a show.
But the best thing about last year for us, Rich, was working with you at the booth. It was great to finally meet you after all these years of interacting. *That* is the part of the shows that never got old and that we will indeed miss greatly.
The burn-out, the bad food during the day, the noise, the high costs, none of that will we miss. But the people like you, that is really something that we will miss.
It was truly an honor to meet you and have a chance to talk during your time in the booth, Rich.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
Join the COW’s LinkedIn Group
Now in the COW Magazine: Commercials. A look at the history, strategy, techniques and production workflows of successful commercials. All brought to you by some of the COW’s brightest members. Accept no substitutes!Would you like to be in Creative COW Magazine with your story or contribution? Contact me.
Do you have your complimentary subscription to Creative COW Magazine yet?
-
God I love ya, Nick. I hope you know that. ;o)
But I learn about new things almost daily on the net and I don’t even have to leave the comfort of my LL Bean PJs and comfy cow slippers to do so. And instead of sipping a $7.50 cup of coffee while eating an $8 doughnut as I walk the show floor, I can sip some fresh ground beans made the way I really like it and I can forgo the doughnut for something a lot tastier and better for me.
On a serious note, I agree with you that I have never been to a tradeshow where I didn’t learn about something very cool that I did not know about before. Often times, something VERY cool.
But…
I remain unconvinced that the value of the odd discovery is enough to justify the costs of a show like NAB.
Your mileage obviously differs, (though which of us is driving the Yugo remains one for debate and based on one’s personal driving habits).
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
Join the COW’s LinkedIn Group
Now in the COW Magazine: Commercials. A look at the history, strategy, techniques and production workflows of successful commercials. All brought to you by some of the COW’s brightest members. Accept no substitutes!Would you like to be in Creative COW Magazine with your story or contribution? Contact me.
Do you have your complimentary subscription to Creative COW Magazine yet?
-
[walter biscardi] “I guess Apple and Avid can’t directly insult NAB by saying “they’re gouging us” so they have to say things like “we’re redirecting our money to other efforts.””
Yes, I guess it takes a fool like me to say things like that.
One of these days when I grow up, I’ll learn to keep my big mouth shut.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
Join the COW’s LinkedIn Group
Now in the COW Magazine: Commercials. A look at the history, strategy, techniques and production workflows of successful commercials. All brought to you by some of the COW’s brightest members. Accept no substitutes!Would you like to be in Creative COW Magazine with your story or contribution? Contact me.
Do you have your complimentary subscription to Creative COW Magazine yet?
-
[Michael Belanger] “I guess the folks at Adobe will have to fill in the gap… assuming of course they show up this year.”
So far, Adobe has no plans (that I know of, anyway) to forgo NAB 2008. But they will have a smaller booth than they had last year, which as many of you know, was markedly smaller than the year before.
Walter Biscardi pointed out an article to me over at MSNBC.com stating that the Consumer Electronics Show is looking for a new home. Seems that they have had enough of Vegas and the endless price hikes.
The article states that “Some hotels charge more than five times what they normally charge during the four-day event, organizers said. They also require [during CES that] rooms be booked in three- or four-night blocks and add food and beverage guarantees on top.
Glenda Brungardt, trade show and event manager for HP Imaging & Printing Marketing, told the Las Vegas Sun that the company had cut 12 percent to 15 percent of its show personnel because of rising costs. Hotel costs, she said, are the top complaint.”
It’s not just NAB that is in trouble, although they exacerbate their own precarious situation by adding to the burden with their own NAB-side price hikes. The whole trade show industry is in trouble and when companies like Sony bow out of Comdex, while Avid and Apple bow out of NAB — the message is clear and the handwriting’s on the wall. Unfortunately, NAB can’t seem to read and so they add their increases, secure in the feeling that they are the top dog in the field and can do what they want.
But I remember when DV Expo grew over the years to take almost every inch of the Los Angeles Convention Center and were in the two main hall complexes — both upstairs and downstairs — as well as the classrooms in the upper and lower walkways between the two huge halls. They have been shrinking over the years, and this year they occupied just a partitioned off subset of one floor of one hall. A small subset, at that. Last year I went and it was so small that I couldn’t find it and had to ask security where it was as it was in a corner of the building and there wasn’t even any signage to find the place anymore — until you found the actual event. What a change.
There was a time when DV Expo was an important show and one that most companies went to. That day appears long past.
The same has been happening to SIGGRAPH. It continues to shrink and wane in prestige, scope and reach.
NAB may be the biggest but they are far from being unassailable in their ivory tower where they plan the year’s price increases.
Companies are not willing to continue to write bigger and bigger checks to reach fewer and fewer people, especially if the percentage of those who are hobbyists continues to grow with each year — which has indeed been the case with NAB.
So, even shows like CES have to consider change to save themselves. This, as their market — both on the vendor and consumer side — complain about price increases and express their unwillingness to keep shoveling money into the exhibit producer’s trough.
Thanks, Walter, for the head’s up on the CES story. I hadn’t seen that one yet.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
Join the COW’s LinkedIn Group
Now in the COW Magazine: Commercials. A look at the history, strategy, techniques and production workflows of successful commercials. All brought to you by some of the COW’s brightest members. Accept no substitutes!Would you like to be in Creative COW Magazine with your story or contribution? Contact me.
Do you have your complimentary subscription to Creative COW Magazine yet?
-
No problem, Michael.
Sometimes I joke with Kathlyn that there are so many things to learn in all this that my brain hurts.
Have a great weekend.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlindeboom
Publisher, Creative COW Magazine
Join the COW’s LinkedIn Group
Now in the COW Magazine: Commercials. A look at the history, strategy, techniques and production workflows of successful commercials. All brought to you by some of the COW’s brightest members. Accept no substitutes!Would you like to be in Creative COW Magazine with your story or contribution? Contact me.
Do you have your complimentary subscription to Creative COW Magazine yet?