MediaLive Continues Its Makeover
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 9/6/2004
MediaLive Intl. plans to reorganize into two divisions — one to handle events and the other to sell event software.
CEO Bob Priest-Heck said seeds for the realignment were planted with the June acquisition of Utah-based event software firm WingateWeb. The company's product offerings — including software for housing, registration and conference management — will become an important feature of both divisions.
Conferences and exhibitions within the technology media division will use WingateWeb software, while the event solutions division will sell the software to customers, such as technology companies organizing their own proprietary events. "We plan to really reorganize the whole company using those technology tools," Priest-Heck said.
The technology media group will be headed by Eric Faurot, formerly vice president and general manager of COMDEX. Faurot, whose new title will be senior vice president, said he's excited by the prospect of bringing together a new team and having events housed in one division.
With the cancellation of this year's COMDEX, normally held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in November, NetWorld+Interop is the company's largest tradeshow. The media division will also include VoiceCon, GTEC, Next Generation Networks, Seybold Seminars and a new conference co-sponsored with technical book publisher O'Reilly called Business 2.0.
Since the COMDEX postponement was announced, MediaLive officials have put together an advisory group to hash out how best to reconfigure the event to make it relevant for the information technology industry.
Priest-Heck said the company has received thousands of letters from people who want the event resurrected. "There's a lot of momentum behind COMDEX. There is a need for an industry event," he said.
The MediaLive Web site lists dates and locations for 10 events in 2005. Priest-Heck said the company soon will add a half-dozen or so new events to the roster.
One that won't be on the list is JavaOne, which MediaLive has produced for Sun Microsystems since 1997. A Sun spokeswoman confirmed that MediaLive would no longer be involved with the event, and said a decision hasn't yet been made about who would manage future conferences.
"We had a great relationship with Sun and we still do," said Priest-Heck. "There's no bad blood."
Priest-Heck added that the changes at MediaLive are being prompted by a shift in the marketing environment. "We fundamentally believe our customers have changed their marketing objectives. I believe the last two decades were about brand building, and the next two decades will be about customer relationships."
The software tools are intended to help customers in their current goal of measuring ROI. "Marketers today are judged by how they align sales with marketing. Sales didn't used to be part of the equation," Priest-Heck said.
