I just got back from the CeBIT 2012 exhibition in Sydney, and it was singularly unimpressive.
I had been to previous years, both here in Australia and overseas, and they were exciting, vital, engaging – but this year just didn’t click with me.
The vendors on show came across as unimaginably bored – to the point where I saw one stall where the “delegate” was actually asleep – with mouth agape catching flys !! It was the most bizarre thing I have seen in ages – especially when the smallest of the stalls costs about $22K.
The cross-section of new tech on show was droll to say the least. There was nothing that inspired me, nothing that had the “wow factor”, nothing that stopped me in my boots. It was the same old same old.
Maybe I had higher expectations based on previous years, or maybe I’m just a little jaded, but I did expect much better – seeing it’s supposed to be “Australia’s leading ICT event”.
And it wasn’t the organisers problem – that was all goodness. They emailed me a barcode that I scanned from my WP7 on entry to get my access pass – all very slick and smooth. The problem was the exhibitors. They lacked inspiration, marketing savvy, and just plain and simple communication. Many stalls were designed so badly that it was nearly impossible to understand what the product was or what they were trying to sell or market.
There was even several large stalls that were entirely in Chinese – I couldn’t read a thing, or even understand what they were selling. I went up to one of these and asked what they were promoting and the guy just said “sorry, I can’t help you, I’m just the translator”. !! Again, how bizarre.
So if you’re thinking of going to CeBIT…don’t. It’s a waste of time this year.
