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.