Are We Reaching Saturation Point with Trade Shows Again?

Here we go again... Advertising Week (September 26th through September 30th in NYC) will present some interesting choices/challenges for those of us on the online side of the business. Mediapost will be hosting its OMMA East conference at the Marriott Marquis on the 27th and 28th. Additionally, iMedia is hosting its Brand Summit the 25th through the 28th in Coronado, CA. On top of that, the IAB and AdWeek are hosting the Mixx Conference and Expo (and awards) on the 26th and 27th at the Millennium Broadway.

So if you're in this industry, hard choices have to be made for that particular week. I do hope, however, that we don't make the mistake we made several years ago when we exceeded the saturation point for industry trade shows and everyone got their asses kicked. Used to be that when you went to just one of these shows, you were pretty much assured that most of your industry buddies and bigwigs were going to be there. Now it looks like everybody's going to be splitting up and attending different events.

At least we'll all probably be going to the same post-event parties. :-)

How Apple Could Win the Day

Sirius and Sprint have announced a deal whereby Sprint mobile users would be able to access Sirius satellite radio content on their phones. I've talked about this before, but the ultimate convergence device for mobile entertainment would be an iPod that receives satellite radio content and would be able to access the Internet, including podcasts, via satellite bandwidth. Just program your iPod to download the podcasts you want during the course of the day and they download automatically by logging on to a satellite-based network whenever you have a clear line of sight to the sky.

If there are any Apple folks reading, know that I'd go out and replace my iPod Mini tomorrow if I knew I could get access to satellite in this way. So hurry up and ink a deal with Sirius, XM or both. While you're at it, sign a deal with my old client PanAmSat to deliver IP-based content. This would solidify Apple's market leadership position in mobile entertainment for years to come.

Babies R Me

Did a lot of interesting things this weekend, including building a Beirut table and trying to figure out what's wrong with my Corvette and why it won't start. Sunday was a swimming day, and the gang came over to barbecue and cool off in the pool. So we had Kayla, Colin and new addition Ella in the kiddie contingent, which means we spent a good deal of time making googly faces and fussing over the infants. Colin even went in the pool with Daddy Dennis for a bit and took to it rather well.

I'm a bit "babied out," though, with all the discussion about breast-pumping, dirty diapers and epidurals. Sister Kim is due in November, so it won't be long before the pitter patter of little feet invades my own household. Wish me luck.

OMMA West Recap

I'm back from OMMA and putting out fires in the office now, after taking the redeye back from SF last night/this morning. I've never been good at the whole sleep-on-the-plane-and-go-right-to-work thing, so I'm a bit out of it today. And I can't even sleep on the train on the way back to Wading River tonight because my flight was late and I had to drive to work this morning. Ugh! The conference was a blast, and I got to catch up with plenty of old friends, including Matt de Ganon (former president and chairman at K2, now working for The Weather Channel), fellow Spin writers Mark Naples, Cory Treffiletti, and Seana Mulcahy, Bill McCloskey, Robert Tas, Tom Jenen, Seashal Morse and many more.

I also got to meet some people face to face that I've only exchanged e-mail with, like Sean Cheyney from Accuquote, Bob Heyman from Mediasmith, and some people who had responded to my Spin columns on the Spin Board.

I moderated a panel on Data Overlays on Monday. The panel was a bit underattended, but we made it fun anyway by electing to have "class outside" and we abandoned the PA system and conference room for sitting outside in the garden and having a more intimate, conversational panel.

Tuesday was quite busy. In the morning, I moderated a panel on integrated planning and buying with a few old friends - Aimee Reker, Robert Davidman and Jeremy Helfand among them. In the afternoon, we did an uproarious panel with all the Spin writers, Geoff Ramsey from eMarketer and John Battelle. I hadn't met new Spin writer Shelley Palmer until the panel, but it was a blast riffing off of one another on the stage.

In between panels, I was taking potential clients out for meals and drinks, finishing up two proposals and a media plan, and generally running around like crazy. I'd never had a conference that was so fast-paced. (Jon Whitfield and Nick Friese from Mediapost and I were cutting deals for a potential client on Monday, in between sessions.)

All in all, it was terrific fun, but I am worn out and looking forward to my bed in Wading River.