Some unique giveaways from the NXTcomm show floor:

Stuffed frogs with magnetic feet.  These cute little things can hold your notes and pictures on the fridge but I think it would be far funnier to put a few on your car just see them hanging on for dear life.  Thanks TELUS!

Celtics jerseys.  After the Boston Celtics won The Finals, Boston based ACME Packet outfitted their entire booth staff with Celtics jerseys.   More impressive, the entire booth staff managed show up on time the morning after!

Water.  It has broken 100 degrees here in Vegas every day I have been here, making the guys who were tossing bottled ice water to the folks cooking in the taxi line heroes of the show.  Thanks Intel.  You probably saved a life today!

Walking down a crowded isle or sidewalk is a lot like driving on a busy
street, and generally the same rules apply.  There are no stop signs, lane
markers or traffic cops of course, but here are some traffic tips that apply
equally to motorists and pedestrians.

Stand on the right, pass on the left!  Where in the world is it OK to block
traffic by loitering in the left lane? In most states, traffic law
stipulates that slower traffic keep to the right.  The same rules apply to
pedestrian traffic, especially on escalators and moving sidewalks.

Watch the road.  I’m not surprised to find the majority of attendees at a
telecom show staring attentively at their phones. With so many folks
checking their email while walking, I am surprised I haven’t seen any major
pedestrian crashes.

Observe and try not to upset the flow of traffic.   Everyone occasionally
has to cut across an entire isle full of people, but when doing so, try to
remember that the majority rules so it is your responsibility to merge in
and out of moving traffic.

Pull over if you get lost.  If you aren’t sure where you are going or what
you are doing, try to get out of the way while you figure it out.  New
Yorkers and Washingtonians get a bad reputation for being hostile and
impatient with tourists when in fact they simply have a low tolerance for
people mucking up the works.  City dwellers and tradeshow attendees would
rather give directions than wait behind someone who stopped because they are
lost.

This vehicle makes wide turns.  Pulling a rolling bag or pushing a cart
makes you the pedestrian equivalent of a tractor-trailer.  Leave yourself
some extra stopping distance, don’t make any sudden moves, make wide turns
and watch out for people who may get caught on the inside of a sweeping
right hander.

Don’t block the box. Pedestrian intersections are uncontrolled so anyone
standing in the center of two intersecting isles will have traffic coming at
them from all directions, dramatically increasing the odds of a collision
and subsequent traffic jam.

Signal before turning. People don’t have turn signals but their eyes can
serve the same purpose.  If you are approaching someone head-on, look them
in the eyes and they will generally divert their eyes to the side on which
they plan to pass.

Arrive alive by driving gently, going with the flow and obeying local
traffic laws.  See you in the hammer lane!

I haven’t been everywhere on the show floor yet and it is only day two, but here is a list of things usually found at Vegas tradeshows that are noticeably scarce or absent at NXTcomm08:

Porn flyers and cards littering the halls and bathrooms

The smell of too many people in a small space

Small booths of consumer grade trinkets

Mentally ill people posing as reporters

People sitting on the floor

Lines for the bathroom

Wheelie bags

Beach attire

Complaint

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that there is nobody here.  There are plenty of people milling around and getting down to the business of doing business.   They are just being surprisingly polite and professional about it!

Having walked the NXTcomm show floor for a while I have a few observations to share:

The overall impression I get from the show floor is that of civility with an underlying buzz of excitement and possibility. It is a pretty open floorplan with wide isles that give a light and airy feel.  It feels more like a high school reunion than a dance club.

I can’t remember ever seeing a more diverse crowd at a tradeshow.  Men and women, young and old, black, white and every shade in between, the level of diversity among attendees is truly striking and reflective of the global reach of the telecom industry.

Large tradeshows are often a mile wide and an inch deep in terms of their industry reach and coverage.  But the products on the NXTcomm show floor represent the entire telecommunications chain from mobile data centers and outdoor enclosures to set top boxes and customer management software.  NXTcomm maintains an undiluted focus on improving revenue for the attendees’ businesses rather than being just a showcase for hyped technologies.

There seems to be quite a lot of actual work getting done here.  There are lots of groups standing and sitting around, introducing themselves, and conversing.  This is a much different environment than the shows that have people herding around and bumping into each other in narrow isles.   Many booths have large offices and there seem to be lots of meetings going on all the time.