Just back from ITEXPO, the first tech show of the year. Here are some quick thoughts from the show.
Lesson 1: If a speaker uses a PR contact instead of themselves, they will always suck. After more than 15 years of moderating, this is a truism. They will be unprepared and will not really add anything to the discussion for the audience.
Lesson 2: Most AI stories are a remix of old analytics stories. For instance, telling the tale of mining call recording for keywords in order to send alerts to another machine is basically what sentiment analysis is and has been a thing for a little while. [But this reiterates my point that most providers have no idea what their competition has. Navel gazing.]
Lesson 3: The reason IoT isn’t sold by many channel partners boils down to one thing: the solutions are not pre-packaged. It isn’t a product to be pushed. IoT solutions require bringing together several pieces in order to solve pain for the Buyer. This isn’t really what channel partners do, unless that is going to be their specialty — and usually that is an SI (systems integrator). The channel is usually about pushing product, especially replacement product.
Lesson 4: Definitions matter. When discussing a topic and all 3 panelists have a different view of what a term means is confusing to the audience. My fault should have defined the term in the prep meeting.
Lesson 5: I appreciate panelists that show up prepared and with good stories. Thank you to Michael Skurla of Radix IoT and Mark Lindsay at ECG.
Lesson 6: Shoes. I walked over 7 miles yesterday. Shoes matter.
Two observations:
I don’t know what it means when the moderator is a no-show and no one knows. Like why didn’t the moderator tell anyone (such as either panelist) or why didn’t a coordinator know? Maybe a hint that was going to happen was not receiving ANY contact from that session moderator prior to the session.
When are they ever going to finish the Broward County Convention Center? And why is there only a handful of restaurants nearby?