…or -less colloquially- just got back to a 100 degree Austin, Texas from three packed days with the throngs at Labelexpo in Chicago.
We did -of course- walk the packed halls, watched machines running, heard the barkers and the bands (I still think a Guns ‘n’ Roses tribute act at two in the afternoon is way too loud and far too early, oh and get off my lawn while you’re at it), saw the latest and greatest, and listened, more than anything, to the thrum and buzz and point/counterpoint of Digital which has gone from the punk kid on the side of room to Guest of Honor at the very Top Table (or so it seems).
My co-founder at LPC, Jennifer Dochstader, made the trip with me and all that’s ever been true about a good trade show is still true: In three exhausting days you can see almost all of our industry in one confusing and energizing hit. And then there are the intangibles. The people you talk to who you had no plan on meeting because until that minute you’d never met them before.
I spent a good amount of time at TLMI’s booth (an oasis of sanity and useful connections) and put real faces to dozens of different folks who were little more than a title or an email address before that. Engaged people with new ideas, opportunities, and a to-do list for me this morning that I had no clue about before I went to Chicago.
There’s also the intended business of course, meetings with clients you know but I can’t name because of NDA’s. Seems folks don’t want others to know why they’re researching what they’re researching. Fair enough. We did also sit down and break bread (donuts, steak, cookies, pasta, Danishes) with friends from industry groups you also know who we can talk about, including TLMI themselves (working on the next Index & Trends Report and also deep into a Digital Market Study for them), FINAT (we agreed on details for the next European RADAR report which is beginning now) and we also had a chance to check-in with some Taskforce leaders for a major PRIMIR study that is going to print shortly).
All good with good people. Albeit some of them were a little tired towards the end. Us too. But back here in the office this morning, and with an inbox which is complaining for being largely ignored this week, I miss it, and have the sense that if I could only have had ONE more day I would have seen every last thing I feel I surely must have missed out on.
But I was better connected and organized this year, saw more, met more, did more, and I put that down -partly- to the economy being healthier and companies getting far more aggressive in their outreach, but also technology, the ability to be on top of what was happening when and where.
Talking of one of these (relatively) new technologies, and with my eyes and data-driven heart always interested in verifiable trends, I would love our friends from Tarsus (the guys who run the show) to do some research on the @labelexpo twitter handle. I would be genuinely interested to know how many tweets used that tag in 2014 compared to previous years.
There was a whole subculture of information, a back channel hurtling on the wireless wires, about who was doing what and where. I can’t imagine going to a show these days without keeping an eye on the feed. Why have a phone and never turn it on?
In an environment where so much is taking place just around the corner -and out of sight and all the time- social media was real for me this time, not a gimmick or a passing trend; pretty much like all those other digital things we’re talking about.
If you still don’t want to get into that race, if you’re doing just fine without it, good for you, but be aware you may be choosing to stay on a horse in an event where a lot of folks nowadays are driving fast cars…
Feel like there’s a cheetah on my tail (you had to be there). Time to get to work.