Channel Expo 2008

Sadly my posts from Channel Expo in Birmingham seem to have all disappeared - I'm not sure where they went - but they are definitely gone. I'm so glad I spent the time writing them now!

I was happily blogging away yesterday at the end of the show, and the NEC cut the power. Brilliant - thanks guys.

Here is my summary of the event.

The venue itself looked fantastic and everybody did a great job ensuring the running of the show went smoothly and without a hitch. Sadly some thieving chancers made off with a couple of products from our New Product World and also a laptop from one of the exhibitors' stands - but that didn't dampen the spirit of the occasion at all.

I would like to thank all the high quality speakers who took part in our How to Sell Theatre debates - I really appreciate them all giving up their time for CRN, and for those of you that missed them, they will be appearing (in edited-down highlight format) on Channelweb very soon. Definitely worth watching.

Speaking honestly - the attendee figures were a little lower than I had hoped- particulaly because we had so many pre-registrations and such a positive build up to the event - but they were up on last year, which is fantastic. Also speaking to exhibitors at the event it appears the quality of attendees had certainly improved on last year and there were quite a few happy exhibitors that have already booked their stands for next year.

Expo 2008 was the first year CRN had really played a major role in the event - so it has been a learning curve for all of us and we have taken away a lot of valuable lessons that will enable us to build on Channel Expo 2009 to make it even bigger and better than ever.

Good events take time to build and grow in reputation and I personally am fully confident that Expo, with the weight of CRN and its loyal readers behind it, will continue to grow year on year until it is the only event that the channel needs to attend.

I would genuinely welcome feedback from everyone on this subject - what would make you come to Expo next year? What did you think of the event this year? What were the highlights for you? Please email me your comments - they will all be read and noted.

All that remains to say is thanks to everyone, exhibitors, visitors and the Expo event team for all their hard work and support and here's to Expo 2009.