Compared with last year's show, which was mayhem, this year you can walk the aisles without playing human bumper cars. It's also much less crowded with exhibitors.
Booths are smaller, with no ostentatious displays or celebrity pitchmen.
Many smaller companies didn't come, occupied a smaller space or shared a booth with a larger partner. A lot of past exhibitors are tightening their belts and want to turn a profit, and are cutting back on marketing and trade shows, which are a big expense. Penton estimates there will be 50,000 attendees of the show this year, down from the record 58,000 last year. There are 500 exhibitors, roughly the same as last year. Penton pointed out that while 140 dot-coms went bust last year, that's out of a pool of 17,000 that were funded in 1999.