FOSE 2008 Report: Swag Poachers, Small Business Success and The Wonderful World of Document Imaging

(Photo credit: FOSE)

This week, for the first time in my DC public relations career, I attended the granddaddy of government technology expositions: FOSE. I know that the show tends to get a bad rap in many contractor and vendor circles, but I went in with an open mind to see just how 1105 Government Information Group's much hyped spectacle works.

The first thing I found hard to ignore was the attendee swag poachers. I know that exhibitors come armed with branded swag for attendees to take, but I witnessed a significant percentage of attendees going from booth to booth, taking every piece of swag they could grab without stopping to look at any products, take some literature, have a conversation or even let the exhibitors scan their badges. Honestly, is that Cisco superball or Google yo-yo that big of a deal? I stood guard over my client’s box of t-shirts to prevent the whole lot from being snagged by overzealous attendees, and I can't imagine I was the only one acting the role of a security guard. Attendee swag grabbers are part of FOSE's reputation, but considering the investment exhibitors make to be there, I think it is a shame to see. Exhibitors attend conferences like FOSE to have meaningful conversations with potential buyers. While there are many of those people there, it is hard to navigate the sea of folks just out to collect free stuff. (Good to see that I'm not the only one to walk away with this observation.)

Now that I have that out of my system, I should emphasize that I was also very impressed by the technology on display. As I was there on behalf of SpeakerBox client ScienceLogic, most of my time was spent in their booth,helping to manage traffic and administer a survey (more on that on a later date...). But the technology surrounding us was fascinating, including a highly impressive document imaging solutions from Kirtas Technologies. They had a large, complicated-looking machine in front of their booth (obviously their product), which was cradling a book. The machine would carefully turn a page in the book, scan it, then turn to the next page and repeat. If I had more time, I probably would’ve spent the whole show watching the machine slowly digest its book. It’s shocking how far we have come since tabletop scanners.

One final issue that I think I have to address: exhibitors tend to say that FOSE is just for the spectacle, and that very few leads come out of it. My client ScienceLogic, however, has had a far different experience, with successful contracts almost always coming out of the show during the years they’ve attended. And judging by the number of leads they generated and meaningful conversations I saw taking place, this will prove to be another good year.

My final verdict? For the little guy, at least, FOSE is still a great show to attend. And for the POLITE attendee, it’s a great place to catch a sneak peek of the latest, greatest and the next big thing in government technology.

- John Terrill