NXTcomm belongs in the Windy City not Vegas

LAS VEGAS. Man it

’

s hot outside. I

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m at the NXTcomm show in Las Vegas and this morning

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s keynote didn

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t get off on a great start.

It started over 10 minutes late (and after I rushed over to get here for 8 AM too).

At 7:55 AM an announcement came over the PA system stating the keynote would start in 5 minutes.

They made the same announcement at 8:05 am too.

The problem was that the keynote session at 8 AM was less than half full and in a room that is massive that certainly doesn’t look too impressive.

Typically, a keynote hall is usually the most prominent location at
any conference. At NXTcomm it is hidden at the end of a long corridor behind the exhibit area. In
order to get there attendess had to run the gauntlet of cables and in my case, a lift truck too that was in coming from the
outside.

Transportation is also likely an issue why people weren’t here at 8AM.
Supposedly there are shuttles coming from all the conference hotels. Personally  I
couldn’t find the one for my hotel so I ended up taking the monorail – Considering how many badges and people wearing suits I saw on the monorail,  I wasn’t
alone in making the monorail trek to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Overall the layout from what
I can see on this first official day isn’t nearly as clean as it normally is
when the NXTcomm /SuperComm event is in Chicago.

But we already know
that NXTcomm will not be returning to Vegas next year.Organizers have already planned on moving NXTcomm back to Chicago (where it belongs) next year.