Linux Journal: Linux for Suits: Showtime

“Put together the badges I’ve worn at tradeshows, and you’d have
enough to tile a wall. I’ve played about every role possible at a
show: panelist, attendee, exhibitor, keynote speaker, organizer,
booth builder, reporter and promoter. And I’ve been at it since the
Dawn of Disco.

“What amazes me, after all these years, is how technologies have
gone through one revolution after another, while their tradeshows
hardly have changed at all. Take a time machine back to Comdex in
1984 and, aside from such wireless graces as cell phones and Wi-Fi,
it looks pretty much the same as the one we’ll see this fall. How
come?

“One reason is tradeshows are markets in the ancient and literal
sense of the word. They are the industrial equivalents of the tents
and stalls that gathered at crossroads and village plazas back when
trade began, long before the birth of currency and the study of
economics. For the industrial categories we call markets,
tradeshows provide a literal marketplace where buyers, sellers and
experts can gather to meet, do business and advance agreements
about what makes their category worthwhile. For a few days every
year the virtual market becomes a real one…”

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