Global TMW:

An Internet show

Steve Scheiber, Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 4/1/2008

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Once upon a time, going to a trade show meant flying to a central location, taking up residence in a hotel or conference center, visiting manufacturers’ booths, and listening to seminars and technical papers from a variety of points of view. But costs, security issues, and other factors reduced companies’ enthusiasm for such activities, and trade-show attendance fell off dramatically. Numerous shows simply died.

But what was the alternative? How could engineers and managers evaluate and compare the latest inspection system without spending the time traveling to all the vendor candidates and examining their offerings?

Enter the “teleshow.” For two days in February, PCB inspection vendors like Agilent Technologies joined their colleagues from other parts of the manufacturing-and-test process to hold a trade show over the Internet (www.virtual-pcb.com). Users could sign in at any time and enjoy approximately the level of personal service that one would expect from the onsite version.

It’s difficult to say whether this event signals a paradigm shift, but it’s hard to deny its advantages. As price erosion continues to work at cross purposes to increasing product complexity, companies have to find shortcuts that reduce costs without compromising quality. Eliminating travel expenses and drastically reducing time away from the office boosts overall productivity. Everybody wins. You just can’t “kick the tires.”

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