We need less security trade shows

I drove up yesterday to meet with some people at the CSI show in Orlando.  This was the first year for the show in Florida.  It is usually in Washington, DC or Chicago.  It moved down here this year, because frankly last year there was not a great turnout in DC.  We exhibited there last year and passed on the show this year.  I went up to Orlando and was very impressed with the Gaylord Palms Resort, which hosted the show.  The hotel itself was spacious and clean.  The on site convention center was more than big enough and had all of the niceties one would expect.  In fact there was a nice line up of vendors at the exhibit.  But when I walked around it was a ghost town.  Most of the vendors I spoke to said that visitors to the booths were few and far between.  The show which had advertised about 2500 attendees had only about 700 or so, from what I was told.  What a waste of good marketing dollars!

However, the CSI show is not alone in this predicament. A few weeks ago, Mitchell and I visited NY for the Information Security show at the Javits Center.  Again, nice venue, nice weather, lots of exhibitors, very few people walking the floor.  Most of those who were walking around were "adult trick or treaters" looking for giveaways from the vendors.  Again I heard grumblings from friends who were exhibiting that this was a waste of their marketing budgets.  The problem is there are too many of these shows vying for exhibitor dollars and attendees.  Lets face it, RSA is a must see, Black Hat is too. Interop has become more security orientated.  After that, some of the big SANS shows are worthwhile.  Beyond that it quickly starts to get down in the weeds.  We would be much better off consolidating some of these shows to make them more worthwhile for everyone involved.