For those who are new to this debate, I will catch you up. First, there was VMWorld–which was kind of like a cross between a high level MIT graduate symposium and Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus (with strippers). Whatever the intentions of the organizers, somehow that show was a strange concatenation of labs on the latest virtualization technology and a show floor dominated by jugglers, comics, and models in sexy nurse costumes.
In response, Stephen Foskett wrote a SiliconANGLE post urging: “(Don’t) Make Your Startup Look Stupid with Booth Babes and Chotskies!” He raised the question - what do these cheesy attention-getting tactics actually say about your confidence in your company’s offering?
But then F5’s Kirby Wadsworth came along and reiterated his belief that booth babes are a great way to get people’s attention at trade shows. The two of them went mano-a-mano on the Storage Monkeys podcast, Infosmack. Oh yes, and this blogger was also on the line, smacking both of them down.
But our story does not stop there. Mr. Foskett is showing himself to be willing to take his original argument to the limit. As he revealed yesterday, he is going to do something utterly radical for his next trade show appearance in his booth with Nirvanix. It will be entirely plain and simple. No attention-getting tactics, cheesy or otherwise. It will be the “Dogme 95” of booths. I for one am very curious to hear how well this works–it could change the face of trade show marketing spends forever. To be continued…
