Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler
September 2004 Archives
I am presently in Beijing (for about 18 hours). I am here to cement a deal to run our Search Engine Strategies show in China in June 2005. Upon adding China to the SES World Tour, we will be in 7 countries (including the USA) for a total of 9 SES shows per annum.
Based on meetings with key Internet marketing folks in Beijing, the Chinese show should pop. Beijing is the center of Chinese interactive advertising companies and it is also the home to most of the Chinese portals. And of course many American companies in this space have purchased Chinese affiliates that are based in this capitol.
In 1999 and 2000 I made several trips to China. Returning after a four year absence was nostalgic for me. I remember how excited the British and American ex-pats were for the Internet's future in China --- this enthusiasm was more than matched by native Chinese business people.
Attitudes are more sober today, but Internet enthusiasm and excitement is everywhere. I cannot wait to run SES China in June. Speaking slots and exhibition opportunities are available. Please contact twalsh@jupitermedia.com if you want to participate.
I will next post from Japan.
I am in Los Angeles and about to head to an amazing trade show called ITSMF.
Amazing for one reason: this show was started from scratch in December 2001 and is now over a $1 million show and growing rapidly. Jupitermedia is involved because we run every aspect of the show for the ITSM Association. ITSM stands for Information Technology Service Management.
What is ITSM? From the conference program: ITSM "educates management-level attendees on how standardized processes and best practices can be systematically applied across the range of IT support and service delivery functions -- effectively managing IT costs."
Nearly 70 companies are exhibiting including organizations such as IBM, Microsoft, HP, Computer Associates and many others.
Contrast our success with this show to our incredible effort to launch the failed cdXpo last year. This show yields $50 per square foot for exhibit space. Paid attendees (of which there will be well over 500) on average pay $1100. There was a need for cdXpo, and over time it might have worked now that Comdex is dead. But selling exhibit space was like pulling teeth. Selling seminar seats was also difficult. The ITSMF show, on the other hand, fills a need and appeals to both exhibitors and attendees -- it can only grow larger.
Conclusion: It all comes down to vertical focus and need. How fortunate we are at Jupitermedia to be associated with one of the great trade shows in the world today.
Many readers know that I created Internet World magazine as well as the trade show by the same name (these properties were sold in 1998). One of the nice things about the Internet is that "old" acquaintances can pop up at anytime, and that is what this blog is about. A writer from way back sent me his thoughts about the early days of the Internet and Internet World magazine. I am taking the liberty of posting his email and hope you all enjoy it.
Alan,
I am a freelance writer and my first paid publication appeared ten years ago in Internet World magazine, May 1994. As I neared the precipice of college graduation, then-editor Daniel P. Dern gave me a shot at a feature idea I had pitched via e-mail. Since then I've written 184 published articles, many for properties you've owned and stewarded. I've been thinking about these details because I have just completed putting together an online portfolio -- www.bordella.com -- where I have compiled references and links to ten years of work. Hopefully the portfolio will be a useful tool in finding more work, which has run rather dry.
In tracking down article titles and publication dates, I found myself flipping through old issues of Internet World, archived in the local university library. I became absorbed in the content itself, remembering how much I enjoyed Internet World the magazine, not only as a working writer, but as a reader. The Internet experience at the time was one of great wonder and possibility -- you really could say it was like a childhood. Your magazine superbly captured that fascination and the excitement of the possibilities ahead.
I suppose now the Internet is like something of a teenager. Not yet fully grown, but been around long enough for some of that wide-eyed wonder to have worn off. Which is perfectly understandable -- along with that comes a whole new series of capabilities and challenges more complex than before. But there was something special in the era that Internet World magazine captured, and I just wanted to thank you for making that happen. Also, it was a lot easier on the eyes than a computer monitor!
cheers,
Aaron Weiss
www.bordella.com
Perhaps the best two trade shows in the world today are Pulver's VON shows and Jupitermedia's Search Engine Strategies.
The point of this post is the amazing story behind Jeff Pulver and his shows. I met Jeff in 1996 at Spring Internet World in San Jose, California. At the time he was working on Wall Street, but his love was Internet connectivity and Voice Over IP (Internet Telephony). Jeff ultimately started pulver.com and the VON shows. These shows grew slowly, but then accelerated to the point that on September 10, 2001, Key3Media paid Jeff $65 million for the VON shows.
Note the date: great timing for Jeff, bad timing for Key3Media (now MediaLive).
Fast forward to early 2003. Key3Media goes into bankruptcy. Thomas Wiesel Partners throws in $130 million or so to bring Key3Media out of bankruptcy and decides (along with management) to sell the VON shows back to Jeff Pulver for $5 million!!!!!
Fast forward to today: MediaLive runs a variety of shows. None of these shows are close to the size they were three years ago --- in fact some are on their last legs and others have been "suspended." And what about the VON shows? They are probably worth north of $30 million if not more.
Need I say more.
Who doesn't know Danny Sullivan. And what doesn't Danny Sullivan do? It used to be writing a blog, but not anymore. Danny's new blog just started up on SearchEngineWatch.
The blog is equal to the calibre of anything that Danny tackles --- the best writing and the best insights into the world of search.
The addition of the blog to SearchEngineWatch.com further cements this site as the center of search information throughout the world. Everyday one gets news, analysis, forums, and now blogging as well as the various email newsletters.
I think that SEW is one of the best examples of building Internet publishing. Starting from scratch in the mid-1990s, this site has added levels and levels of informational depth so that any competitor can at best be a pretender.
Traffic to the site is over 100,000 page views per weekday and growing continuosuly. Advertising positions are sold out --- we even have a waiting list for ad positions. And of course the SES shows are second to none and their success is directly related to the power of the Web site.
Quite a publishing property!
The latest issue of EXPO magazine has two stories of note. First is a profile of the person behind TechX (formerly PC Expo) and second is a story about MediaLive and their "new" blog called LOOP.
Christine Condos of TechX has the unenviable job of making this retro show successful. The claim here is that by running several tech shows under the umbrella of Techx, the show is sure to be a winner. My take is that the kiss of death for any trade show is certain if it is not focused. TechX will test both theories, but I predict that this will be the last TechX. Christine seems willing and able, but so were the folks over at CEBIT America (and we know about that history).
Reading about LOOP certainly brings a chuckle. LOOP, according to the article, is designed to bring "community" to MediaLive's "dead" Comdex and their other once large show called Networld-Interop. Reading this article makes me think of the launch of my blog in February 2003. I launched the blog to bring community to the new cdXpo. My blog caused a stir in the trade show arena as this was a "first" for a trade show.
It appears that the MediaLive people realize that the ideas behind cdXpo were very much needed and that in fact cdXpo was ahead of its time. It has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery -- thanks MediaLive.
I received my fourth Treo 600 replacement on the weekend and now I need yet another replacement (making it a quintet of Treos). This time I have a new problem. The Treo can either ring or buzz for incoming calls. My replacement only wants to buzz.
I called the wonderful customer service team at Treo and found out that after four replacements I might be eligible for a "new" Treo 600 instead of a retread. I am on pins and needles as I await word on this decision. Will let you all know.
In the meantime Walter Mossberg in The Wall Street Journal today raved about the new Blackberry that is coming in October. I am now awaiting this new Blackberry, the new Sony-Ericcson 910A as well as the iPAQ 6315 before deciding on whether to continue with the Treo or move to new equipment.
Interestingly Mossberg's conclusion was that the Treo still might be the best overall phone and PDA. I wonder if Walter has had Treo problems --- I doubt it and question if any readers know "the great tester" and can ask about this?
In the meatime if I do not anwer my cell phone you will know the reason.
Craig's List has been in the news frequently the previous few weeks. eBAY's purchase of 25% of the company a few weeks ago prompted most of the news. And today in THE NEW YORK TIMES business section there is a profile of the company.
A bit of history: Back in 1999 our company (then named internet.com Corporation), was buying dozens of Web sites of varying sizes. One that we really wanted was Craig's List. I had many discussions with Craig and Jim, but could not shake them to sell. We even discussed a partial ownership position, but again, nothing doing.
At that time Craig's List was essentially focused on San Francisco and Silicon Valley and we were building a variety of news bureaus for internetnews.com in New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago,Toronto, Berlin, London, Milan, Amsterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei and Sydney (with many more planned). I had wanted to combine Craig's List with each of our news bureaus --- apparently a good idea! But as stated above, I was rebuffed.
Craig and Jim said they were going to build out Craig's List to dozens of cities and I was incredulous that they could pull it off. History shows they did it in spades and they did it with great class. History also shows that we built an excellent news organization at internetnews.com, although we now have bureaus only in New York City, Boston and San Francisco, Berlin and Tokyo.
Craig's List combines community and ecommerce. The Internet is littered with failed ecommerce sites that lacked community and community sites that could not garner ecommerce. It looks to be an easy combination to master, but history says otherwise.
Congratulations to these two gentlemen --- great job and congratulations.
Readers know I am quite fond of my Treo 600. Readers might also remember that I have had this nifty device for 8 months and am on my third replacement. Correction! Make that fourth replacement. The scorecard: two with broken speakers, one blob of white goo (the third) and now a screen that turns blue every few minutes. I am averaging a replacement Treo every two months. But the space between the third and fourth was only two weeks.
Believe it or not I still love the Treo, but am anxious to try the IPAQ 6315 now that I cannot count on sustained operability of the Treo. I also understand from John Patrick (a one time Treo 600 devotee and one of the best bloggers in the world) that the new Sony Ericsson 910 is a terrific pda-phone too.
I must commend the Treo people for terrific customer service. The wait time is short and the return and replacement process efficient. Unfortunately I am getting to know the people who run the customer service all to well.