KioskCom Day 1 evaluation

Well, I'm back after a long day of trade show work. Lots of talking and hand shakes, explaining our offerings over and over, sometimes in different ways just to keep it interesting for myself. The show has had very good traffic from an exhibitor point of view. Today I spoke with several big brands such as Sprint, Best Buy, Lowes, Georgia Power, and several others. Many expressed interest in having further discussions or creative brainstorming on some of their efforts. We are showing our healthcare patient self check-in application, and actually met with a few healthcare organizations.

We also had many opportunities to talk to potential partners, vendors and even fellow IBM staff that can help us make the right connections. A new ISV partner in IBM's booth next to us had an "inventory management" tool that is used in retail clothing. They are "Fitting Room Central" and have just launched their kiosk controlled management tools at Macy's department stores this past week. Nice guys from Montreal Canada, with a nicely designed and built application.

We saw lots of glamorous hardware, sexy software interfaces, etc. Its really fun to see what brands our competition has been doing projects for since the last time that we all exhibited together. I also had a prospect client from Cincinnati suddenly appear at the show, he was in town and found out at the last minute that the show was going on and dropped in to see it.

Our three UPS packages finally arrived early this AM including the one that they said that "we had not shipped" which translates to "We've lost your box and don't really know where it is just yet". I guess that is there way of giving their customers "surprise and delight" when something that was thought lost... suddenly appears. Ugh. So I ended up setting up our hardware offering at 20 minutes till show opening time and sweating like a horse. Nothing like some stress first thing in the morning to get the blood flowing.

At the end of the day, IBM sponsored the happy hour on the show floor, and we put back a couple of glasses of red wine with one of our new clients, and prospect clients. IBM even had an ice sculpture of their logo. (Excess is never boring). I left and had dinner with my sister who lives in Manhattan, along with two friends of hers: one a packaging structure and design consultant and the other works for Loreal hair care. A glass of Malbec at Merc Bar on Mercer (great atmosphere) and a wonderful dinner at Cento Vini in the SOHO area on West Houston street. I highly recommend both places if you are in the area. Cento Vini had a truly exquisite atmosphere and talented wait staff as well as a great selection of wine. I will definitely come back on future trips.

Okay, tomorrow there is an early IBM breakfast and then tear down at the end of the day, pack & ship everything back to the office... it will be tiring. But there are lots of opportunities throughout the day to make new connections, hear new ideas and make new friends.