I go to trade shows (of any kind) ...
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Huh? (Score:2, Insightful)
What's a trade show?
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Funny)
What's a trade show?
It's theater. There are these plays about merchants exchanging money for goods.
"Merchant of Venice" was one of the most famous ones.
They really get boring during the contract negotiation scenes though.
So that's what Im missing out on (Score:1)
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:So that's what Im missing out on ...
Free stuff?! (Score:2)
Re:So that's what Im missing out on (Score:2)
but they hand out free crap, some of which is useful. USB sticks, memory sticks, burnable DVD, stationary, pens, calculators, coffee mugs...
Re:So that's what Im missing out on (Score:2)
Free Crap ... aka SWAG (Stuff We All Get)
Gonna get some SWAG at the tradeshow! (Dell World, KACE Konference next week)
Re:Huh? (Score:0)
Never should really be an option on this one. Some of us aviod them like the plague.
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
Another one is "Spice and Wolf", though I don't remember the contract negotiations being all that boring...
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
What's a trade show?
A bunch of companies in the same industry getting together at a convention centre to show off their new products to the general public, and to each other. Occasionally, there are lectures. Comicon, Home and Garden Show, Consumer Electronics show, etc, are all trade shows.
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
When I went, it used to coincide with Adult-dex.....the adult film industries trade show.
MUCH more interesting....hahahaha.
Re:Huh? (Score:1)
What's a trade show?
A bunch of companies in the same industry getting together at a convention centre to show off their new products to the general public, and to each other. Occasionally, there are lectures. Comicon, Home and Garden Show, Consumer Electronics show, etc, are all trade shows.
You forgot the part about there being lots of drinking and other extra-curricular activities.
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
No vote cast as usual (rolls eyes in despair at
Re:Huh? (Score:0)
<Smivs> I don't know what CMS is!!!1 I can't select "i cant be bothered to understand the poll question" so I'll bitch about insufficient poll options!
Re:Huh? (Score:3)
What's a trade show?
you go there to collect swag and as an excuse to get tickets to some nice metropolitan city to booze with your friends who also manage to do the same. sometimes it gives a nice glimpse of which companies and types of things people are dumping money into as well. so it's like a holiday that your employer pays.
and very rarely you'll get technical insight and run into tech you wouldn't otherwise bump into that interests you. but that's very rarely.
none of this applies if you're a booth monkey in the booth cage. then it's like working in retail.
Re:Huh? (Score:1)
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
What's a trade show?
It's a place where you go and meet peers in the industry and learn about new and emerging technologies. At least, that's what I take away from Cisco Live!. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong...
Most trade shows are a bit of the above, a bit of partying, and a bit of theater. My old manager viewed Cisco Live! as more of a learning opportunity with a little bit of fun thrown in. My new manager views Cisco Live! as nothing but a marketing boondoggle with no redeeming features at all.
My thought is that what you get out of a trade show is up to you. You can sign up for seminars and learn stuff, you can party the whole time, or you can do a mixture of both...
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
The only relevant shows to my industry are held in other countries, and my boss won't send anyone below executive level. I certainly can't afford the trip + registration fees out of my own pocket.
Only if I'm paid (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm always offered to go, represent the company I'm working at, and do a brief afterwards.... but as I'm a contractor, it's very rare that they'll also offer to pay me for those days.
If I'm not going to get paid to go, then I'm not going. I'll always find out any useful info sooner or later, so it's not like I'm missing out on too much.
Re:Only if I'm paid (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm always offered to go, represent the company I'm working at, and do a brief afterwards.... but as I'm a contractor, it's very rare that they'll also offer to pay me for those days.
If I'm not going to get paid to go, then I'm not going. I'll always find out any useful info sooner or later, so it's not like I'm missing out on too much.
I'm a contractor, and fly myself down to the trade shows representing myself, rather than the company I currently contract to. Gotta rub shoulders with like-minded people, sink a few beers, eat some good food and (most importantly) catch up with what's happening in the field.
Contracting rule #1 - always have a parachute in sight.
Re:Only if I'm paid (Score:2)
I'm a contractor, and fly myself down to the trade shows representing myself, rather than the company I currently contract to. Gotta rub shoulders with like-minded people, sink a few beers, eat some good food and (most importantly) catch up with what's happening in the field.
Since you're going to the show of your choice, it makes sense. But I think the difference between yours and GP's points is GP is asked to go to trade shows of the employer's choice, not his own. The GP's kind of shows probably cater to the employer's customers, not necessarily the employee's potential contracts/clients. I.e. the company's field, not yours.
Maybe your company sells gas pumps, so you're asked to go to a convenience store show or a retail petroleum show. Perhaps you design embedded software. The potential clients there are probably gonna just be your current client's competitors and probably not the snack food companies or canopy builders, etc. Maybe your company does security related electronics. The prison show you attend might have a couple other alarm/surveillance/etc. firms there, but also floor tile manufacturers, steel toilet makers, uniform suppliers, food services, etc.
So if you go on your own dime, your way is the way to go. If you're asked to do what the GP is, attend company's show at personal expense, it's probably not worth it. I'd do whatever I could to get out of it, including pointing out that someone's got to hold down the fort while the rest of the department is out -- emergencies come up, you know?
Re:Only if I'm paid (Score:1)
>> a convenience store show
Man, people who go to those shows have the *worst* costumes.
Re:Only if I'm paid (Score:3)
Re:Only if I'm paid (Score:2)
You get the write off only if you itemize deductions. If your other "Schedule A" deductions ( charitable donations, medical expenses etc.) plus the trip expenses is smaller than the standard deduction, it is no use.
Re:Only if I'm paid (Score:2)
You get the write off only if you itemize deductions. If your other "Schedule A" deductions ( charitable donations, medical expenses etc.) plus the trip expenses is smaller than the standard deduction, it is no use.
If you are successful contractor, in a state that has income tax, you will be itemizing. State income taxes are deductible from Federal income tax. Above a certain income threshold, state income tax will exceed the standard deduction all by itself. In the 90's in California, this was about 60K. I don't know what is today. Since then, my good years have been way over and my bad years have been way under.
Re:Only if I'm paid (Score:2)
I'm not sure if the term "trade show" is intended to cover them also, but imo professional/practitioner conferences are better than trade shows for that kind of thing. For example, in the game industry, compare something like the Game Developer's Conference (developer-oriented) to E3 (a classic product-focused trade show).
Only if I'm *not* paid (Score:2)
I'm a digital design engineer. When I'm working, there's no time for trade shows.
When I'm not working, I go to any relevant trade show I can get into for free. They are important networking opportunities, they keep me a little more engaged, and they are mildly informative. I have not directly scored a job this way but I have from single vendor events that you generally find out about through trade shows.
missing option (Score:5, Insightful)
Never.
I've been to a couple professional conferences in my career, and the occasional fan convention, but an industry show dedicated to people trying to sell stuff? Nope.
Re:missing option (Score:2)
That would be like:
Rarely - less than once in a lifetime
Re:missing option (Score:4)
The Internet killed the Trade Show Star...
Re:missing option (Score:3)
The Internet will never substitute for getting your hands on a product and trying it out yourself. Some things can be shipped for demos, but for the show I have attended (Winter NAMM), it would be highly impractical and in some cases impossible to distribute demo units to everyone who wants to try them out. It makes a lot more sense to set up once a year and let everyone come together.
The coolest thing I got to try out at Winter NAMM 2010 wasn't even for sale by anyone at the show. One of the exhibitors had brought along his personal Tubax [wikipedia.org] and was giving demonstrations as well as letting people play it (on the stand -- it's not like you'd WANT to pick this thing up). I was lucky enough to have brought a baritone saxophone mouthpiece and reed and didn't have to play the owner's or borrow one from the booth I was representing. I found that while it is an interesting instrument and incredibly well-made, it's not something I would particularly want to buy. It is NOT a straight substitute for a contrabass saxophone. Mostly, it just hits a wall volume-wise somewhere around a strong mf. Any attempt to play louder than that just caused the tone to break up. I thought this might have been because I was using a setup not well-suited to the horn, but I have since received confirmation from other people who have rented or owned them that it's not just MY problem. They just don't like to be played loud.
This is not something you will ever be able to find out firsthand from any amount of electronic conferencing. Thus, certain types of trade shows are not particularly in danger.
Didn't think things through. (Score:2)
Yet, I just found this out from your firsthand account on an electronic conference...
Re:Didn't think things through. (Score:2)
For that ONE PRODUCT, perhaps. And that assumes you trust my judgment and that of others. Maybe YOU have a mouthpiece/reed combo that is not subject to this issue. Some other sources say "metal mouthpieces will do this" -- and I note that both the one i brought and the one the owner normally uses are metal. However, I know mine at least is a fairly voluminous mouthpiece on the inside, and it is construction with a small chamber (not material) that makes most metal mouthpieces so bright and cutting. There are plastic mouthpieces just as incisive, like the Rico Metalite, and the Saxscape Downtown. (I own one of the latter, and have owned a couple of the former.)
But how would you go about finding out whether the horns at the Cecilio booth were worthwhile? My personal experience with the brand has been EXTREMELY mixed. I have a piccolo of theirs that is absolute crap, a complete waste of $200. When I played the bari at their booth, it too was absolute crap, and I said so (yet they still tried to sell it to me on the spot). However, I had come to the booth to try out the Sax Partner (basically a sound-insulated hard case with hand holes, so you can practice nearly silently), and it wasn't crap at all. In fact, but for one (fixable) design flaw, I was rather impressed with it. Possibly more surprisingly, I also liked the Cecilio-branded horn inside of it for the demo. It wasn't a GREAT horn, but it really wasn't bad at all. I was not really any happier with the Aizen I played an hour later that costs five times as much.
I also played a bari of the brand name "Ten-on" which was made in Vietnam, and was quite impressed. I also played some of their flutes, with varied results (some I liked a lot, one I totally hated). The Taiwanese company owners were personally present, not mere sales drones, and it was pretty apparent they have their supply chain issues more firmly in control than their mainland China counterparts. The M-22 bari at the Rheuben Allen booth was expensive (though I understand they cut list prices more than most), but it was a very good instrument. I also got to meet a certain personality in the sax-building world (with the initials "SG") who was amusing and knowledgeable, though I still don't think I'd buy anything from him personally. Another (Oleg) was arrogant, but tolerable in the short time I had to deal with him -- just long enough to get a turn on the Tubax, which was stationed in his booth though it belonged to someone else.
I also ran into a former bandmate, and we planned to get together after the close of the show but he got sidetracked by security for having insufficient documentation of some items he had bought and eventually I had to go on without him.
All this happened in a single day, and I spent more time at the booth that issued me the pass (acting like I worked for them, since I supposedly did) than I did roaming the floors. I met famous and less-famous but still interesting people that way too. Good luck getting an equivalent experience without just BEING THERE, and there's plenty I left out.
Re:missing option (Score:3)
If something happens "rarely", it happens.
Re:missing option (Score:1)
relax. It was a joke
Re:missing option (Score:2)
As an example, if something happens once every thirty years, but you have only been alive for twenty-nine years, would you conclude that the even happens rarely or never?
Similarly, if you have never been to a trade show, does that mean you will never be able to go to a trade show?
Re:missing option (Score:2)
A "Hundred year flood"' happens every couple of years these days
(at least in the F-M area)
Re:missing option (Score:0)
But the "Never" group is not interesting for the owners of /. (and their clients) anyway, so that has been left out.
Just trolling... am I?
Re:missing option (Score:0)
Obvious troll is obvious.
Re:missing option (Score:0)
But the "Never" group is not interesting for the owners of /. (and their clients) anyway, so that has been left out.
Just trolling... am I?
Someone pointed out something similar to this on another poll a few weeks ago---something about the polls sense having the feel of being developed by the cold corporate hands of consumerism. I originally gave it little thought until now; seeing this poll and the recent permanent addition of two more cookie files to /. has me thinking otherwise.
Just saying ... not trolling ... amirite?
Re:missing option (Score:2)
Well, starting from the understanding that I can't force anyone to believe anything they don't want to ... No, you'renotrite :)
We get some polls from readers (who are bright enough to re-purpose the submissions form for it -- one day, I hope we'll get a better / more appropriate submission form for polls, but for now that's it, and we always like poll submissions. Submit! Submit!), as well as some reader-submitted poll *ideas* provided without answers, just topics. Others, we (the handful of editors) generally come up through brainstorming, whether in our jabber channel or just when the coffee stirs a few neurons together.
So far, and cross fingers that it remains true, the NEW CORPORATE OVERLORDS haven't said Boo to any of the editors about their favorite Linux distro, least-favorite naughty words, what they eat for breakfast in Idaho (though I suspect potatoes are a local favorite), or what they want in polls.
(When I wrote this poll, btw, I was just thinking about what shows I might be likely to get to this year; CES is always fascinating, SXSW is just down the street for me, Comic-Con in Baltimore I think would be more interesting than the big West Coast ones, etc. So ... maybe not a very strong brainstorm, but that's about the size of it.)
Got more poll ideas? Please -- click that "Submit" button on the front page, and let us know :)
Re:missing option (Score:2)
Never.
I've been to a couple professional conferences in my career, and the occasional fan convention, but an industry show dedicated to people trying to sell stuff? Nope.
Frequently, but only for trades related with my hobbies, not my career (e.g. get some fancy router bits [wikipedia.org] at discounted prices - it makes sense to get in contact with people that sell stuff).
Who said professional? (Score:2, Interesting)
I go to Model Train shows 2-3 times a year.
Better variety, lower prices, everyone talking trains.
You Guys need to get a hobby.
Says a lot about you (Score:2)
Re:Says a lot about you (Score:0)
Or, that you like to party!!! Wooo hoooo!
Re:Says a lot about you (Score:2)
Or you want to hear from other people about what they're working on. Believe it or not, the more technical "trade shows" are quite useful in that regard.
Re:Says a lot about you (Score:3)
Believe it or not, the more technical "trade shows" are quite useful in that regard.
Doesn't even have to be a technical trade show. I attended G2E last year and we found a printing technology we hadn't found online (inexpensive hidden window reveal). I was able to talk to an engineer about interfaces to the printer and how formatting is handled (as well as the other company that makes the paper). I also got to chat with the Unity3D guys (this was prior to a linux release and they confirmed they did have it running on Linux for a particular customer) and talk to some guys about modifying an automated ball caller for our uses. This was at a conference/expo that is mainly slot machines and guys walking around in suits staring at the scantily clad promo girls (I think one company actually hired Penthouse models).
I honestly didn't think I'd get anything useful from going (a hangover at best), but that was because of what it looks like on the surface. The business guys also made some connections we wouldn't have made had we not attended.
Re:Says a lot about you (Score:2)
Never. End of story. (Score:0)
Somehow OP doesn't think there still is such a thing as an individual with free will and a spine on this planet, who if (s)he has decided not to do something, won't do it, end of story.
I am an AV technician (Score:0)
I am at more trade shows than i could possibly count each year.
Re:I am an AV technician (Score:1)
I am too and I haven't been to any in over 2 years. Last one was some shitty regional vendor expo. My employer has been really tight with travel budget lately while at the same time prodding me to do "professional development" activities. I'd love to finish out my Crestron cert. but that's several days of classes in another city (mostly for stuff I've already figured out on my own in the meantime). Oh well.
Is InfoComm worth it anymore?
I try to go... (Score:2)
Benefits of Trade Shows (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Benefits of Trade Shows (Score:2)
My job is about software development, just call me a programmer. Last time I went to a trade show I learned that some 500 new acronyms had been invented. By now they must be out of fashion again because I never hear about them anymore. Sadly, in my area of expertise not a lot of groundbreaking stuff is happening. Sure, there are many who pretend that they have the new golden recipe that makes the new software easy to write, with 0% defects etc. In reality there's always some point where the dirty work has to be done, the result is prone to bugs and is hard to maintain.
I'm a bit fed up with these shows promoting extensions to bad management and recycling of meaningless mumbo jumbo.
Re:Benefits of Trade Shows (Score:1)
...I'm a bit fed up with these shows promoting extensions to bad management and recycling of meaningless mumbo jumbo.
You mean like ITIL, Six-Sigma, etc... :)
Re:Benefits of Trade Shows (Score:2)
Re:Benefits of Trade Shows (Score:0)
I buy grocery, undergarments and lampshades among other and like misc items...
Re:Benefits of Trade Shows (Score:3)
The two times I've been to trade shows, I ended up hooking up with booth girls. So, I agree, there are indeed two benefits in going to trade shows.
Re:Benefits of Trade Shows (Score:1)
NEVER! (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would anyone go to a trade show?* It's me, going out of my way to be advertised to. I can think of few things less enjoyable.
Conferences on the other hand, I love. A chance to talk with the people who actually made the stuff the trade shows are advertising â" That's incredibly valuable and well worth the time and effort.
*The most common excuse I see is that it's a free trip to Las Vegas or somewhere, which is why they hold them there and not Des Moines. But if that's the cost of a trip, I'm not sure it's worth it. (Then again I live in my favorite city. Traveling out of it is a step down.)
Competition (Score:0)
Trade shows are great to see what the latest and greatest the competition has to offer. AND if you get the right person in the booth, they'll tell you a ton about what's in their pipeline.
It's also a way to network about jobs - sometimes. You usually get the "we post our jobs online. Check there."
Farmer's Market (Score:1)
Frequently, counting the local farmer's market: dozens of times per year. Most Saturdays except during winter and early spring. Otherwise, rarely.
Re:Farmer's Market (Score:1)
farmers market is not a trade show.
its a market that you buy goods from, not a show to see the most recent advances in agricultural technology / methods. You buy tomatoes, not see the latest bug resistant breed of tomato plants and the latest gadget to get the most out of your harvest without bruising while increasing productivity by 1.72%
Scientific conferences (Score:2)
I generally attend a couple of conferences a year, and try to present some of my work at least at one event (I'm out of academia so publishing is not a priority).
It's a great way of keeping in touch with the latest bits of research, but mostly it's about the networking.
And the fact that some conferences are organized in beautiful places does not hurt!
Concentrated headache (Score:2)
They are noisy, crowded, expensive, and all you end up with is a bag of bullshit brochures and cards.
Re:Concentrated headache (Score:2)
You're going to the wrong ones.
Re:Concentrated headache (Score:2)
You're going to the wrong ones.
If it's for your job, you probably don't get to choose.
Re:Concentrated headache (Score:1)
...and a cold.
Neverbeen (Score:3)
Think of car trade shows - a manufacturer shows up and says "here is a half working prototype of what we could make if we put our minds to it, a beautifully shaped fully transparent hydrogen gas powered plug-in hybrid with a 9-speed manual gearbox. but nahhhhhhh, it will never see production, you can buy this heap of shit instead (sales rep points to said heap of shit)"
missing option (Score:1)
When I'm running low on pens and notepads.
I Used to Do COMDEX Regularly (Score:2)
Friend of mine runs an internet sex toy shop and mentioned one day that there's a sex toy tradeshow in Vegas every year. That's now on my bucket list, to attend just once before I die.
Missing option: Years and years ago (Score:4, Interesting)
Between '89 to '95, I went to multi-dozen trade shows. Four a year sometimes. COMDEX, CES, E3.
I stood around in my cheap suit, in horrible dress shoes, and show off CD-ROM multimedia software.
It got a little better after other, larger companies started putting show personnel in casual-dress uniforms. Golf shirts with logos, khakis, black sneakers, that kind of thing.
What made it all incredibly frustrating is that, while I was working in "high tech" (I mean, gosh, multimedia CD-ROM), it was all about selling and sales and making deals. There was no real interest in the technology, and what it could do, and how it worked.
I eventually got my ass in gear and went to grad school so I could actually work on a development team. While I miss the travel sometimes, I'm so glad to be through with trade shows.
Re:Missing option: Years and years ago (Score:1)
... it was all about selling and sales and making deals. There was no real interest in the technology, and what it could do, and how it worked...
Did you work for Oracle???
Re:Missing option: Years and years ago (Score:4, Funny)
Did you work for Oracle???
CD-ROMs? He obviously worked for AOL.
The last time I went to one ... (Score:2)
... was during my dotcom days for Internet World in Los Angeles/L.A. I also just found out that I could go to E3 with my work proof even though it is not work related. DOH! Too bad I am not into gaming anymore. :(
Only accidentally (Score:0)
When I happen upon one that might be interesting, and I have time to waste.
Might be related to the fact that I never hear of trade shows where I live, the only trade shows I'm aware of are two countries further.
Re:Only accidentally (Score:0)
(replying to self to add)
That is, if any of the following can be considered trade shows:
- Pasar Malam [wikipedia.org]
- Spiel [internatio...ieltage.de]
- Spellen spektakel [spellenspektakel.nl]
- Book fair [boekenfestijn.com]
If none of these count, then never. And the last one is the only regular staple nowadays.
Adding this because most comments seem to focus on IT/techy shows -- there's more out there than just computers!
Trade Shows != for the trade (Score:1)
OTC (Score:2)
OTC (Offshore Tech Conference - oil industry Christmas) once a year satisfies my trade show itch. It's got everything you could want - competitors screaming across their booths at one another while you /popcorn, the Chinese and the Dutch nearly going to war with one another over whose booth space is where, free swag out the wazoo. Also, enough booth babes that every strip club, brothel, and Hooters in the greater Houston area has to shut down for the duration for lack of employees (and few people get more desperate than girls who know nothing about engineering trying to sell complex equipment to people who don't speak English. Got three numbers last year).
Have not been to E3, CES, etc. I can only hope they're as fun.
Re:OTC (Score:2)
OTC (Offshore Tech Conference - oil industry Christmas) once a year satisfies my trade show itch. It's got everything you could want - competitors screaming across their booths at one another while you /popcorn, the Chinese and the Dutch nearly going to war with one another over whose booth space is where, free swag out the wazoo. Also, enough booth babes that every strip club, brothel, and Hooters in the greater Houston area has to shut down for the duration for lack of employees (and few people get more desperate than girls who know nothing about engineering trying to sell complex equipment to people who don't speak English. Got three numbers last year).
Have not been to E3, CES, etc. I can only hope they're as fun.
Oh man I loved OTC. I only went one time when I worked for the American Bureau of Shipping but boy we had a good time. It was surprising to me that alcohol was so hard to find, but eventually we found some Russian pipe pig company that had a cooler of beer. Even if you aren't in the oil and gas industry, every engineer should go to this conference if you are in Houston or nearby.
I go to PAX every year... (Score:3)
I go to the IBC every year (Score:0)
I always get invited by my friends go each year to the IBC, the International Broadcasting Conference.
Quite nice, seeing new things, last year I saw a 3D movie projected at an effective 12 ft/lamber; A DLP projector which was lit using lasers which produces a lot more light than a bulb (it was a loud projector, we could hear it because it was set up on the balcony instead of in the projector booth, probably because of the size of the prototype).
And many people at that conference know me because I developed Boom Recorder an audio field recording application, which I think is quite cool.
How about never (Score:1)
With the economy the way it is. (Score:1)
Whenever currency is no longer getting it done.
Never? (Score:0)
Why isn't Never a option? I know /. says not to bitch about lack of options, but that one seems... obvious.
Virtual (Score:0)
I am a big believer in virtual trade shows/conferences. Have you experienced on, like On24 or VCopious?
not within practical distance. (Score:1)
so between 3 days to a week away from the desk, airfares, hotels bills, and entrance fees once every two years is about all I can manage
Is GenCon a trade show? (Score:3)
Re:Is GenCon a trade show? (Score:2)
And see new games of course. I spent a good $1,000 on new gear that I carried home on my motorcycle :) Certainly I could have simply purchased them later from my FLGS except that they don't carry the Judge Dredd books from Mongoose (for example).
On a good side, a new FLGS has opened within a 15 minute walk and they're stocking the games I'm interested in.
[John]
CeBIT (Score:3)
Frequent vs Regular (Score:1)
Price (Score:2)
I would go to more if the prices were more reasonable and if the topic presented were closer to my reality of being a good programmer, but not one of the uber geeks of the Silicaon valley elite.
previous employer did dog & pony shows (Score:2)
that way, the only booth and tables in the room were ours. selling big iron, software, services ,etc.
I haven't been to a real trade show since 1996.
Do any of the Comic or Anime -cons count. (Score:1)
That would boost the numbers, I am sure.
I'm an Exhibitor you Insensitive Clod (Score:3)
The only shows i've been too since 1999 (Brainshare from Novell) I was always the world's ugliest booth babe or a presenter so I went to work not to learn.
Yeah, see, I don't live on the coast... (Score:1)
I do occasionally go to trade shows related to my employer's industry, e.g., held by OLC. Those can be an hour away or less.
when I can... legally (Score:1)
I'm a government scientist (Navy).
New administrative regulations forbid attendance for anyone but the most senior (or politically appointed) scientists at anything which resembles a conference. Given that the way government scientists get a lot of their work done is by sponsoring conferences in areas we're interested in, this makes our job pretty hard.
Missing option (Score:2)
Missing option: Depends on whether there will be any hot booth babes/demo dominatrix/eye candy of choice.
(come on, somebody had to point out the real reason some people go to trade shows).
Cheers,
Dave
Never; better alternatives for networking (Score:2)
NAVC (Score:1)