Gartner Hits High-Tech Targets

By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 5/3/2004

Squeezing heavyweights like Dell, IBM and Microsoft into identical 10'x10' booths is the first sign that the Gartner Symposium ITxpo isn't your average information technology tradeshow. Then there's the stream of free food and drink. And if there's any doubt left that ITxpo is no CeBIT, Intl. CESor COMDEX, there's the hushed decibel level. At these modest-sized gatherings, buyers can use their indoor voices.

"We're not like the other tradeshows, where it's the more the merrier," said Dan McGrath, ITxpo national sales director. "We'd rather have 2,000 people of the utmost quality."

Some at Gartner would argue that ITxpois more a conference than a tradeshow, since its showfloor has only 100 or so exhibitors. But in today's era of smaller, more targeted events, ITxpo may embody the tradeshow of the future.

"The larger shows just aren't providing as much value," said Mitch Ahiers, vice president of CEMA, which represents those involved in computer event marketing. "Just to have a broad IT event is too vague now for the amount of technology that's out there."

Ahiers said Check Point Software, where he is senior manager of global events, has become enamored lately with the smaller, targeted events put on by TechTarget. Like Gartner, TechTarget stresses the fact that it attracts only qualified buyers. Ziff Davis Media has also joined the small-is-better ranks with its Business 4Site, a technology summit slated to launch in Los Angeles next month.

Gartner claims that 93 percent of those who attend a Gartner symposium are actively involved in technology purchasing. Half of all Fortune 100 companies are represented; half of all attendees represent companies that spend $20 million or more on IT equipment and services; and more than half of the executive-level audience attend no other event.

As perhaps a sign of ITxpo's growing relevance, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was among the keynote speakers at the March 28-April 1 event held at the San Diego Convention Center. Organizers credit Gates' appearance with boosting attendance by 21 percent.

The company's targeted strategy appears to be paying off. Even though Gartner held fewer events in 2003 – 57, six fewer than in 2002 – its $119 million in events revenue represented a 9-percent increase over the previous year. All told, the events attracted just 27,000 attendees worldwide.

Gartner's events are divided into the Symposium ITxpos, which focus on the overall IT market; a series of summits aimed at specific technology markets; and the invitation-only Vision Events, which let vendors mingle with invited C-level buyers over golf, entertainment and good food. U.S. ITxpos are held in Orlando in the fall and San Diego in the spring. The event is also staged in Tokyo; Sydney, Australia; Cape Town, South Africa; and Cannes, France. Instead of San Diego, next year's West Coast ITxpo will be held in San Francisco.

Both exhibitors and attendees pay top dollar to participate in the five-day symposiums. In exchange, exhibitors have access to high-tech decision-makers, and attendees can hear analysts' latest appraisals of technology markets.

Conference-goers – who McGrath said make a "substantial investment" to attend – can register for up to three one-on-one meetings with Gartner analysts, who have a reputation for being more independent than other research analysts. They also receive a free box lunch, gift and a chance to win an iPod in exchange for listening to a presentation by a premium-sponsor vendor. Those who attend a symposium each year are automatically enrolled in the Gold Program, which offers, among other things, access to special lounges and reserved keynote seating.

Besides 160 conference sessions, the event offers case studies based on real-life technology dilemmas. Vendors can sign up to make special presentations to the audience, or sponsor refreshments or meals on the showfloor.

With the symposium's identical 10'x10' booths, Gartner officials say they hope to create a level playing field for both large and small vendors. That strategy contrasts starkly with traditional IT tradeshows, where bigger budgets equal bigger exhibits.

"The vendors are coming here because they know they're going to see the big companies," said Alwyn Dawkins, group vice president for Gartner Worldwide Events. "How often does a relatively unknown vendor get to spend time with the CEO of Boeing?"

Dawkins doesn't view any of the large, horizontal IT tradeshows as potential competitors. Rather, he said, "The most competition we face is ourselves."

E-mail archiving firm KVS North America has been exhibiting at the symposium for two years. Vice President Mary Kay Roberto said it makes sense from both a conference and showfloor perspective. "This show is a good arena to get people educated on the latest trends. It's a good environment to meet people who are interested in our business. And it's always productive talking to analysts," she said.

Because Gartner supplies the pop-up booth, all that exhibitors need to bring is their signage and promotional items. That makes it easy for first-timers, such as Resource Concepts, a Carollton, Texas high-tech equipment recycler. "We're obviously here hoping to meet the large Fortune 500 companies that are recycling their equipment," said President Chris Miltenberger. "It's a way for us to test the waters."