The two big Telecom trade associations announced that they are junking “NXTcomm” and resurrecting “Supercomm” as the name for their June 2009, tradeshow. According to Light Reading, the change is in response to customer demand.

Does this mean that the Telecom industry is getting ready to be party like its 1999 in 2009? Unfortunately, changing the name will not be enough to turn back the clock to the days when Supercomm was a multiple building, SRO event.

The Supercomm name would have been helpful when the USTA and TIA rejoined to put together a single industry show in 2007. But now exhibitors and attendees are making their decision based on their experiences over the past two years at the June Telecom trade show, regardless of what it is called. If the lead generation numbers are not good, they could call this show SuperDuperComm and it will not make a difference.

As Craig Matsumoto points out, “the buzz of the industry has shifted to areas such as wireless,” pointing to the success of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Interestingly, in 2008, the name of the Barcelona show changed from 3GSM to Mobile World Congress (MWC). Despite many people still calling that show 3GSM, MWC managed to sell out 7 Halls with record crowds!

The reason for the success of the MWC, and the CTIA show in the U.S. is that there are significant business opportunities in wireless and mobile, and being at these shows provides companies a platform to talk to potential customers. So what is the likelihood of there being similar business opportunities at Supercomm 2009?

Matsumoto notes that that the backers of Supercomm include Tier 1 carriers such as Verizon and ATT. Unfortuantely, these are the same Tier 1 carriers that Telecom vendors are reporting poor earnings quarters cite for delaying their equipment purchasing decisions. So expecting Telecom service providers to show up in force at the show does not seem like a great assumption. That makes it even more important to drive traffic to your booth and reach the large number of people who will follow Supercomm by reading the news. That means that if you want the June Telecom trade show to be “super”, you need to plan to include PR as part of your trade show plans.

There’s no question video is infiltrating every last inch of both the tech industry and our online worlds. Here at Vantage we have been filming, editing and posting videos for our clients for almost two years- discussing a product, defining tech terms, or talking about a successful case study. One example of an effective client video we produced is below.

How Does RFID Work?

In the first month of this video’s posting on YouTube it was watched over 80 times. That is a lot when you consider that all 80 of those people had to specifically search out the tags we included.

So, what’s the next step? Where will online video take us next? I predict that more and more of your standard news found on the web will take the form of short informational videos. Why, you ask? Here’s the rundown:

We attend many tradeshows throughout the year for our clients. Standard PR to gain coverage at these shows includes getting a hold of the press list as soon as it’s available and pitching for meetings via email and phone. If they’re lucky, companies get a few feature articles out of the deal, but more often than not the reporters are so overwhelmed with the amount of news coming out at the shows that they end up frantically throwing together ‘news roundups’ of all the announcements and exhibitors get somewhat lost in the mix.

This year, things have taken quite a turn. We arranged over 20 video shoots for our clients at Interop and NXTcomm, which is significant considering the number was ZERO in 2007. Some reporters are now doing nothing but filming executives all day, every day of the conference. This has resulted in fantastic coverage for our clients with minimal work involved on the reporter’s end. As media continues to evolve to meet changing demands of online consumers, new opportunities correspondingly emerge; video is just the beginning.

As Rob Adler mentioned in his blog posting last week, Vantage garnered over 100 “briefings” for seven clients attending NXTcomm. Along with the quantity, it’s important to note the format of these briefings. The days of the pen and notepad seem to be quickly disappearing when it comes to briefing formats with press and analysts.

A significant number of the NXTcomm media and analyst briefings were in the form of a live video interview or an audio podcast conducted from the vendor booths. No pressure. It’s also important to note how the media has evolved and has realized to keep their audiences engaged; they have to add more visual and audio elements to the news-reporting format.

This new age format puts new pressure on vendors to be prepared to take briefings now via “live” interviews. Working with a communications firm like Vantage really helps with this process. Not only do we garner the briefings at tradeshow events to help maximize news announcements, but we also help clients prepare for the “live” interview, which is quickly replacing the pen and notepad format.

Back from three days of 106 degree weather at NXTcomm. The temperature was not as hot indoors. The best description of the show came from Jahangir Raina of iLocus:

“Attendance was low for sure. A lot of people walking along the central aisle …. But exhibitors along the ends of the hall saw very little traffic. Lots of Analysts and Press.”

Like in the theater, the center aisle was the best seat in the house. It seems that most people no longer walk the entrire show floor. So exhibitors cannot rely on walk by traffic to make their show a success.

Mostly, it was the large vendors with booths down the center. Ironically, those vendors will get foot traffic regardless of location (though Huawei was testing this theory by being way back on the bottom floor). So how do the rest of the exhibitors drive traffic to their booth and make the show a success.

The answer is to leverage the power of the large number of press and analysts that are at the show. When people read about your company either before or at the show they make your booth (or even conference room) appointment viewing. One of our clients, Ixia, even posted a large copy of their show press release outside their conference room. During one 30 minute period when I was there, 2 potential customers came by saying they saw the Ixia news and asked to see the the Ixia demo at show. There were many more during the show.

One final thing to consider about a trade show. More people read about a trade show than attend a trade show. So by getting the news out, you are reaching the larger audience that is interested in the show but cannot attend.

Those in the field of high-tech public relations know exactly what week it is – NXTcomm. As the only event where network-enabled voice, video and data are represented, NXTcomm is the premier conference where vendors can showcase the latest and greatest of global communications. Taking place in Las Vegas, NXTcomm opened its doors today to thousands of individuals eager to display what their technology has to offer.

So, what does NXTcomm mean for us PR professionals? Just as technical engineers look to discover new products, PR practitioners look to unveil new industry trends. What is going to be the breakthrough technology this year? What type of coverage will this year’s event receive? As PR professionals, this week we focus on what will emerge and the effect it will have on our sector.

For those of you who subscribe to the pre-NXTcomm newsletter, you may already know that Motorola will talk on its Long Term Evolution platform targeting United States and European operators while Zhone Technologies is looking to redefine the metro Wi-Fi space. Our clients, including Ditech, ECI Telecom, ANDA, Veraz, Ixia, Xelerated and NetQuest will all be at the event. Specifically, ECI is announcing new optical capabilities to its XDM platform while Xelerated is introducing the industry’s first programmable Ethernet switches to the fiber access market.

Only time will tell which technology will make the biggest splash at this year’s event. In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy as vendors unmask the crème de la crème of global communications.