IT Expo vs. the ghost of VON (and everybody else)

This week, the Internet Telephony Conference and Expo finds itself in the unique position of being the "only" fall show dedicated to IP telephony with the demise of VON - sort of.

Since pulvermedia had its big car crash, many of its faithful followers - mainly attendees who loved Boston in the fall and seeing Jeff in his trademark purple shirts, rather than vendors who were stiffed out of cash on events in Europe and left hanging out to dry on deposits they made for 2008 and 2009 - have been looking for a new place to call home in the fall tradeshow season.

A number of organizations considered a "VON replacement" show in Boston in October, but IP communications vendors had a lack of enthusiasm for supporting Yet Another Trade Show on their calendar. Some vendors confessed happiness - fewer shows means simpler decisions and more flexibility in deploying marketing dollars.

Not having VON to kick around any more, IT Expo now finds itself also jockeying for enterprise mindshare, an uphill sell when the franchise has more traditionally attracted resellers and system integrators. VoiceCon, with its successful spring event in Orlando, has established itself as "The" enterprise event. 

In Spring 2009, IT Expo will find more numerous challenges, including the suddenly-hot eComm show, VoiceCon, and lots of larger niches (CES, CTIA, Mobile Wireless Congress) that tend to suck all the air, er, marketing dollars out of the room.

For more:
- Read Jon Arnold's blog [1] on boring conferences

Related article
VoiceCon vs. VONx [2]