By
Tim Young
An Interview with Wayne Crawford by Tim Young
With NXTComm 2008 on the horizon, we took a moment to speak with Wayne Crawford, Executive Director for NXTComm. He filled us in on the show's relocation from Chicago to Las Vegas, as well as other changes that the show promises for this year.
Pipeline: This is the first year that NXTComm is going to happen in Las Vegas. Do you think location makes a significant difference on the outcome of the event? For instance, will it affect the type of attendees you attract?
Wayne Crawford: I don't think it will affect the type of attendees, but it will affect the attendees from a geographic standpoint. Any event in the world, large or small, has a regional component to it. The attendee base is going to be a little more concentrated around the area of the event. Our attendee pre-registration data is bearing that out. We're seeing fewer attendees from Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, and are seeing more attendees from the western states, especially California. Another interesting thing is that our international numbers are up. A lot of U.S. cities are a good draw, internationally. Vegas is a particularly good draw, internationally, particularly for attendees from Asia. I think the strength of the dollar (or lack thereof) is having a positive impact on the event. There is another phenomena, and that's an increase in the activity of the entertainment community. We are drawing better for that event in Las Vegas, due to the proximity to Southern California, than we did in Chicago.
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We're seeing fewer attendees from Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, and are seeing more attendees from the western states, especially California. |
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registrants come in on the last 30 days prior to the show. We're tracking pretty well right now. I'd hesitate to make any hard predictions since we don't have any track record on the West Coast. I can tell you that our preliminary numbers are pretty strong so far. The difference between the two years, though, seems to be the geographic makeup more than anything.
Pipeline: How does the agenda and format of this show differ from last year's NXTComm?
Wayne Crawford: We've tried to make the show a little broader by bringing in more of the entertainment aspect. That's reflected in our keynote speech (Survivor producer Mark Burnett), as well as in our conference programming. For example, while our
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Pipeline: According to your website, NXTComm attracted 15,273 attendees to its debut in Chicago last year. It looks like your pre-event emails are suggesting you may have more than 20,000 attendees this year. How close are you to achieving that many pre-registered attendees?
Wayne Crawford: It's a little too early to tell at this point. Sixty to seventy percent of our
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conference programming has always been focused on nuts-and-bolts engineering information, this year we're focusing a little more on the business issues affecting some of the smaller telcos. We're focusing more on the enterprise community. We're also touching on hot topics in events like our “green” summit.
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