`I'll Be Back ... Maybe'

It turns out that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to trade shows.

"The show floor is beautiful when you can't see it, because there are so many people there," said Jay Franklin of Pinnacle Towers at PCIA GlobalXChange.

Other vendors judge shows in much the same way: If many potential buyers show up at their booths, the show is a success.

The Wireless Review staff took advantage of its time on the show floor to question some of the participants about their show experiences. This very unscientific poll produced comments that ranged from "great" to "I won't be back." Generally speaking, those most pleased were the first-timers, especially those involved with wireless Internet. Of the first-time attendees polled, most said they'd be back next year. The majority of the "old timers" were reserving judgment, waiting for the final results from the show.

"It's a pretty good show for us," said Kevin Clark, NotWired president. "We are here looking for partners."

"On a scale of zero to Geneva (Telecom), this show rates about 50%," said Jeremy Rowe, Airspan senior director of product management and marketing. It was his first time at the PCIA show, and he said he was "reasonably happy." Will Airspan be back? No decision yet.

Vick Mamlouk, Andrew business unit manager, said he probably never has sold anything directly to someone at a show. But he believes trade shows do three things: allow you to see what other vendors are doing; meet with others in your own company; and educate people.

"PCIA made a serious error in their direction," said Mike Houghton, who handles Invertex public relations and previously was a CTIA media guru. "You can't be everything to everyone. (PCIA) should have focused the show more."

The most-often-expressed criticism was that the big vendors such as Lucent, Nokia and Nortel did not attend the show. Others criticized the lack of service providers attending and the emphasis on the Internet.

Attendees had some specific recommendations for shows of the future:

• Combine the PCIA show with the CTIA show. (Several mentions.)

• Number the booths. (Several mentions.)

• Organize the show floor better, grouping all the vendors by product types. (Several mentions.)

• Have two shows, one focusing on hardware and one focusing on software.

• Provide better access to conference and speaking events.

• Do more promotion to encourage attendance.

• Focus on the wireless Web and the emerging value chains of m-commerce.

PCIA's figures indicate 18,300 attended the show and 660 companies exhibited.