While there are some who will
disagree, most of the people—exhibitors and attendees alike—with whom I spoke at
this year’s event in Las Vegas felt that the show outdid their expectations.
Despite the economy and travel difficulties, the show floor was alive with
exhibits and good volumes of traffic. The consensus among many of the exhibitors
was that while the number of visitors to their booths may have been down from
recent years, the quality was top notch…another way of saying that those who
were there came to do business.
Although I cannot pretend to be a
great fan of Las Vegas as a destination, there is no doubt in my mind that it’s
a great venue for the show…a belief rooted in conversations with several
public-sector attendees who, in the absence of funding from their jurisdictions,
paid their own way because of the city’s many attractions.
While environmental stewardship may
have been the show’s stated theme, technology as the key to increased efficiency
and productivity seemed to me to be the underlying focus of the bulk of the
attendees.
I’d very much like to hear from those
of you who were at the show to find out what your impressions were and what
caught your attention.