IT and Telecoms expo in Argentina draws a crowd

LIKE LAST YEAR E. J. Krause & Reed Exhibitions organized the local edition of the Expocomm IT and telecoms exhibition and conference, once again with the never very popular incumbent telcos Telecom Argentina and Telefonica as "macro sponsors". Today marks the last day of the show and conferences, which started on Tuesday. I've had a great time attending Expocomm this year, even more than the 2004 edition which we covered as well.

Four views from the upper cafeteria - burger place. This is by no means a complete view.

The event isn't over so there are no official attendance figures, but this year the show seemed to me more crowded than last year, at least beginning the second day and up to yesterday -during the inauguration day it was a pleasure to move around. The organizers boast about the 177 companies -both national and foreign- present this year at the event. And today will surely be the last day "crowd-rush" that every show has, and you'll heard about that from me as well -probably tomorrow. While the weather was nice the first days, by Thursday a huge rain soaked wet plenty of us in the afternoon, and I heard plenty of foreign accents, there were Asians, Mexicans, Brazilians, even a few guys speaking what sounded like a slavic language and who I bet were related to the Iskratel (Slovenia) booth. I'm not sure if this is due to the fact that the local economy is recovering well -including a fiscal surplus for the 3rd straight year, something that has not happened in this country in the last 50 yrs-, or to the fact that the currency levels makes everything very cheap for foreign visitors and investors, perhaps both.

The Press Room. Journalist Samanta Leccese right in the middle.
Everyone close their chat sessions and look busy! ;)

This was also the first time this journalist got his red "press" pass with full access - I didn't bother last year. This got me access to the Press Room, which I originally envisioned -like the airline passenger who always flies economy and wonders of what would be like to fly first class behind the curtain that separates the mere mortals from the privileged few. As usual, reality is much hard than what you originally thought. The "Press Room" had three (3!) Compaq desktop computers, one (1) fax line, and a couple round tables. This space had about. 15x15ft. Then there was a section filled with sales literature and brochures from the different vendors present at the event. That's it. Oh, and water, coffee, and some sweet delicatessen served regularly, and which disappeared as if attacked by hungry correspondents returning from the war trenches - no, don't look at me, I had nothing to do with it. ;)

One of the three (3) provided PCs on the press room.

Like last year, the stone bull greeted you at the entrance, but after that there was no horse cart or other agricultural device on the empty warehouse that one must pass through to get to the exhibition space. Instead, the folks of the Argentine Rural Society (large landowners and cattle breeders' association) who own the place where the event is held -and also rent the place for all sort of events and exhibitions- left a different present... a subtle but still noticeable stench of earth mixed with cow manure on the floor. I bet this do this on purpose that remind everyone and the tech geeks that they are the real owners, and that they only allow the geeky nerds in once a year.

There were signs -and smell- of dry mud in the corridor leading to the expo.

Yesterday: Rain view from the access corridor.

As usual, there were long lines at... any booth that gave out anything for free -or a chance to win anything-. Even a trip to Paris was up for grabs. And the lines formed even if it was for the chance to play the roulette and win a random printed -you know "dead-tree based"- magazine (but hey, it's a good one!).

Finally on the show floor. Nice and friendly Geeky faces!
Time to begin the discovery journey looking for news.

Stay tuned, there are more reports coming from down under, in the land of tango, beef, wine, and IT shows plus even IT investment.µ

See Also
Indiadaily.com: India faces challenge from Argentina