Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE)

I should probably start this with the disclaimer that I’m a long-time reader, first-time blogger… so please forgive me if the Corporate Communications background makes my first attempt kinda stale – I’m used to stifling creativity and focusing on strictly facts…

The McEnery Convention Center could have been anywhere in America, it’s your standard format with the florescent lighting and tin-can echo, but I really enjoyed that it was in sunny San Jose – a charming town once you’ve spent 12-hours shaking hands and running your elevator speech (more on that later.)

Attendance for the 2007 IRCE was over 3,000, many of our booth visitors were in the start-up phase or had been around a for a while but wanted to move their web-business to another level. Although we’re still compiling the results, we should have about a half-dozen possible leads in the retail and catalogue industries.

One of the nicest benefits of this conference was that a number of our existing customers were attended and often brought a prospect to our booth following a session, there’s nothing better than the third-party endorsement… so a special thanks goes out to Reid and Daryl.

As far as exhibitors, the big names were in attendance – Google, Yahoo and Pay Pal were in full force with some of the most elaborate booth displays ever. There was also a ton of money devoted to SWAG – ranging from an A-level prize of a paid vacation, Mercedes or jet ski, it’s hard to compete when you’re offering an iPod and pens. Looking back, I think we’re much better off, we were across from a company offering a trip give-away, I would be interested to see how many leads they generated in comparison to the number of trip entries…

Outside of the tradeshow hall, I managed to see a few San Francisco/ San Jose attractions (if only from a distance), have dinner at the Il Fornaio Cucina and see a ton of tall palm trees (ala 90210) – this almost made up for the jet-lag, long hours on the tradeshow floor and three-hour time change. Next year we’re in Chicago and I’ve gotta plan for a Cubs game.