I had the chance to meet with some great people who work for the Consumer Electronics Show a few weeks ago. I hope we have the chance to work together down the road.

There are a lot of urban rumors that float around within tradeshow circles about why Comdex plunged. One theme I seem to hear quite a bit is that they simply let ego get the best of them – forgeting that exhibitors are the customers and that you simply can’t let your customers walk away from you because you think they need you more than you need them.

You might be tempted to think CES is in that same position – feeling so powerful that exhibitors are forced to participate. The thing is, CES knows how important their customers are and they don’t take it for granted. They also don’t take their growth for granted. The very fact that they were willing to meet with me, a tiny startup show, says volumes. As I walked into their space sales room for 2007, I could feel the buzz – exhibitors were happy to be there and excited to choose space for 2007.

There’s a reason they are a massively successful event – and it isn’t luck. These folks know how to make sure exhibitors and attendees keep coming back and I could see that they don’t take a single 10×10 for granted. It was pretty amazing.