June 1996, Vol. 7, No. 6

Visions of Vegas

Trends at NEXPO '96: smaller booths, more people, Windows NT

Though others decry Las Vegas as a venue for the Newspaper Association of America's annual technical exposition and conference, I welcome our industry's triennial trek to the desert for NEXPO (a contraction of "newspaper" and "exposition") which this year will be June 15-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Why do I like Las Vegas? Attendance for the show is usually up.

More people at the show just makes it a better show. Whether they're harassing suppliers or chatting in the aisles, throngs of newspaper executives give NEXPO a bustle that makes it exciting to go down to the show floor or sit in on a panel discussion.

The resort-town nature of Vegas -- I'm shocked, shocked to find gambling there -- puts another spin on the conference: People are actually interested in doing something other than walking the aisles. So they're focused and brisk. They go into a booth, ask their questions, get their demos and move on.

The NAA has assured me that early attendance numbers are up (but then, I think many of these people have worked in newspaper circulation departments, where the catch phrase is, "What do you want the numbers to say?"), so it looks like NEXPO '96 will be good from an attendance standpoint.

Over the course of the month of May, I have harangued the more than 120 suppliers who have purchased booth space in the "digital pre-press" category (for us that means newsroom systems, advertising systems, pre-press systems and business systems) to tell us what they'll be showing.

As deadlines came and went (one exhibitor even sent a fax saying, "The dog ate my homework"), it became clear that a raft of new products would be unveiled at the show.

Though the trend seems to be toward smaller companies with, naturally, smaller booths, there has come a certain amount of consolidation as well. For example, Autologic and Information International Inc. -- who each had large booths in years past -- now share a booth, as they have merged to become one company. The consolidation doesn't seem to have limited the number of products, though.

Another trend is that former workers at the large companies have gotten the entrepreneurial spirit (they should have called me first) and started their own businesses. My quick look at the supplier list uncovered more than a dozen companies -- ranging in size from Advanced Technical Solutions Inc. to Coatsworth Communications Inc. -- started by refugees from other suppliers.

And if there's a technology trend, it can be expressed in seven words: "Microsoft, Windows, NT, Word, SQL, Quark, Internet." It appears that if those seven words are not liberally sprinkled throughout your product-line description, you are seriously out-of-step.

The fact that none of these is a particularly radical technology -- in fact, they're all pretty pedestrian -- should say something about not only our suppliers but our industry as well.

Inside, you'll find my 60 choices for the booths to visit, along with my annual pick of the top seven exhibits (if you've got to do NEXPO in a day, seven is about all you can do well). Also inside is our four-color map of the show floor.

Also inside is note of the latest turmoil at two industry suppliers -- Sysdeco and System Integrators Inc.

At the show, this year's cadre of Cole Workers includes Correspondents John Bryan, L. Carol Christopher and George Powell. We're also negotiating with a special Guest Correspondent.

Senior Editor Pete Wetmore will assist me in directing coverage. Cole Group Consultants Mike Middlesworth and Garrett Queen will be ferreting out the hot products. And Research Assistant Isaac Mankita and Circulation Director Marge Wetmore will keep us all in line.

The result of all this will be available not only in our July and August newsletters, but also on our Web site (http://colegroup.com/).

So, polish up your gaming skills, your buffet-table strategies and your walking shoes, and I'll see you at NEXPO '96.

-- David M. Cole

From THE COLE PAPERS, June 1996, Copyright (c) 1996, All Rights Reserved.