An interesting note by our Dir. Marketing Communications on the recent spring CTIA show held in SF...



Having the advantage of hindsight, I have been thinking about the CTIA tradeshow in San Francisco. The official numbers were reported at 14,000 but as an exhibitor it did not feel like 14,000 to me. And if you visited the exhibit floor, it provided perhaps only 2-3 hours of discovery at best.  Other than that, it was still good for setting meetings with the real movers of the industry as they travelled the distance to attend. Personally, I think all of the action was happening behind the scenes and frankly, that is OK as long as it is still happening.

As a backdrop, the CTIA tradeshow was rebranded from Entertainment and IT to Enterprise and Applications which seems to make sense. However, the Enterprise portion of this event still makes me scratch my head. Yes, Ford Motor Company was a really nice addition but not too many other Enterprise companies were on the floor. Nor were they to be found roaming the aisles. I think Sue Marek of FierceWireless hit on the right note when she suggested that Enterprises looking for mobile solutions are really more likely to attend vertical shows that speak more to their industries. Marketers take note!

Given all of this, I really have to wonder (out loud) how much longer the Spring CTIA show will or should continue? As previously noted, there are legions of vertical events that have recently sprung up with a clear focus on all the wonders of mobile, with some completely dedicated to mobile. The void of one less CTIA tradeshow would be filled very quickly by events that cater to mBanking, mHealth, mCommerce, mRetail, mTicketing and more! The Spring CTIA event still has a strong following and I believe is going to build back up to, or beyond, pre-recession levels. We all need that place to gather, exchange ideas, do business face-to-face and meet new people with fresh ideas. As always, let me know your thoughts on this post.

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