Japan's First COMDEX: Putting IT in Focus

Richard L. Schwab is Vice President, Project Management, of Softbank Comdex Inc. Schwab has been in the IT industry since 1955. After a decade at IBM, he worked with a consulting company, data entry equipment manufacturer, and IT information publishing company before joining COMDEX-organizer The Interface Group almost 15 years ago. (The name was changed in 1994 when the company was purchased by Softbank). He lives weekends in Philadelphia but commutes (by driving) to the headquarters office near Boston.

interviewed by Wm. Auckerman

First, please tell us a bit about the focus of COMDEX.

Richard Schwab: COMDEX stands for COMputer Distribution EXpo, and distribution has always been our focus. We used to invite only the computer reseller channel. But as computers became more sophisticated, and people became more used to them, we recognized that the corporate buyer was often running as fast as the reseller, the distribution network. It was important for manufacturers to reach those people as well, so about 8 or 10 years ago we opened the doors of our shows to the major specifiers, recommenders, and decision-makers from the corporate community.

You could argue that the IT professional at a large company is not part of the distribution channel. In a sense they are, though, because they are the ones who order or specify to be ordered whatever products their company is going to use.

COMDEX has a narrowly targeted profile of attendees. My wife, although she has three computers, is not welcome at our show because she is just a user. It is the companies that she buys who from are typical COMDEX attendees.

What are your primary responsibilities with Softbank Comdex?

Schwab: I've been responsible for the COMDEX events in our company. Now that we've grown much larger, we are developing Europe, Latin America, and Asia; I have responsibility for Asia.

Sometimes I say that's my "night job." My "day job" is project management. (All of our shows are called projects.) Part of my responsibility is to see that everything inside our company works smoothly. We now have about 275 to 300 employees, and we only produce IT [information technology] shows. All of our shows are what we call "horizontal. We're not "vertical," with one exception (we recently purchased the Object World series of events).

What is the most difficult part about organizing a show like COMDEX?

Schwab: Keeping our eye focused on what we call "the model." We want a COMDEX to be the same for everybody, regardless of where it is located, but obviously taking cognizance of local requirements. Outside of North America, in most cases, we have a partner who is a strong show organizer in that marketplace.

So, keeping our focus, making sure that the representations we make to an exhibitor (about the profile of the attendees that will come to their booth) are accurate. Also, trying to target the attendees - to make sure that the profile of the attendees is narrowly focused, since that's what we are promising to deliver to the exhibitors.

One aspect of our success has been a very close working relationship with the major companies at a high level. We have regular high-level group meetings with the top people of the leaders in the field - whether IBM, or Microsoft, or Cisco, or Novell, whoever it might be - so we know, subject to nondisclosure, what their plans are. As a result, we're able to evolve our event so that it satisfies their needs while not doing a major shift, which would be unsettling to the smaller companies.

How do you ensure that you get kind of attendees you're interested in?

Schwab: We're careful about targeting the profile of the kind of person we want to come to the show. We can be very targeted with direct mail, so much of our campaign is based on direct mail. We do not use public advertising, do not use television. Except by word of mouth - which, of course, no one can prevent - the home user or small business owner probably doesn't find out about us.

Also, unless the person is known to the industry and receives a free guest ticket, we charge a relatively high price to come onto the exhibit floor. The casual person is not going to pay it. For COMDEX/Fall, for example, you'll pay $100 if you don't have a guest ticket.

The nature of the presentations at our exhibitors' stands are not positioned to the nonprofessional. Sometimes we use a corny phrase: ours is a "show and sell" not a "show and tell." Our exhibitors are not particularly interested in just explaining their products; they're not going to waste a much time with the casual buyer when there are so many other people who want to talk to them.

What changes have occurred in the way your company operates because of the acquisition by Softbank, and what new business potentials has the acquisition created?

Schwab: There have been very few changes. The person who owned the company, of course, was bought out; being very much the consummate entrepreneur, he's gone on to his next venture. But except for normal turnover, 100% of the people who were with us when the acquisition took place are still with us. From an operational viewpoint, there has been no change.

I believe the reason has to do with the management concept of Softbank Corporation. Our chairman, Masayoshi Son, looks for the best in a particular area, then acquires it and doesn't meddle with it. He says, "for whatever reason, they've got to be good. There are probably things that could be changed, but I'm not going to change them. These people know what they are doing, and I'll let them continue to do it."

Our expansion perhaps has been accelerated a little bit, but we already had expansion plans. We might go into some countries that we would not have gone into before we were acquired, to give our exhibitor/customer clients the opportunity to distribute products through a COMDEX-type event.

From the viewpoint of where we are going, we are conscious of the Softbank corporate mission, which we did not have as our mission before we were acquired. There is a corporate mission to be part of the infrastructure of the IT industry across the world. Even though other companies that used to compete with us have been acquired by Softbank Corporation, such as Softbank Expos, in a market where they have a show that competes with a COMDEX event, we're like cats in a back alley. We look after the best interests of COMDEX, and they look after the best interests of their event.

One thing that has changed, though, is that we are more willing now to acquire companies, or to establish close working relationships with companies that used to be competitors. We now have a partnership with Softbank Expos. We have partnerships with IDG, with Reed, and with other show organizers that, three years ago, probably would not have been developed.

In that context, I think we are doing very much what many companies of the industry are doing. That is, to find talents and capabilities that complement each other and, in a limited area where they come together, to form a partnership of some type - even though we continue to compete with those same organizations in other areas.

Will COMDEX/Japan '97 have mainly Japanese companies as exhibitors?

Schwab: There are, of course, many multinational companies who will be at the show. But there will also be a fair number of companies who are not yet in the Japanese market, and that will grow. The Japanese market is very mature, very receptive; it's a very important market to be in.

Companies know they're going to have to pay their dues, and learn how to put their product into the Japanese market. Our challenge is tracking the non-Japanese company who is not already doing business in Japan, and explaining what they can accomplish by exhibiting: whether it's to find a distributor, or a licensee, or maybe just to learn how to localize. Over time, there will be a growing number of companies who use COMDEX/Japan as a marketing tool, either to come into the Japanese market or to strengthen their position here.

You suggested earlier that you adapt events to local conditions. What adaptations are necessary for Japanese market?

Schwab: There aren't too many, actually. Japanese market behavior is similar to the behavior of other mature markets. The way that decisions are made certainly is a bit different, but the utilization of IT is very advanced.

Perhaps the one area of adaptation, since we are a horizontal, broad-based show, is the need for an education program. Most Japanese shows don't have an education program, or, if they do, it's vendor-driven as opposed to industry issues. That will be a heavy emphasis for us. Basically, though, we will have the kinds of functions that we have at other COMDEX shows around the world, those that are of interest and will attract potential attendees.

What are your expectations for the first COMDEX/Japan?

Schwab: I know there are other good, very strong shows that also vie - if not for the attention of the attendees, then vie for the budget of the exhibitors. But we want to make COMDEX the dominant IT trade show in Japan. Whether we'll get there in the first year, I don't know, but I do know the first year will be a very successful event.

It won't be the biggest show in Japan, because that's not our goal. But it will have power. The question is what you measure. If someone said that the Los Angeles Dodgers are the best team in baseball because they have the most people come to their games, we all know that would be wrong. That's not what "best" is measured on. If we have 200,000 or 300,000 people at the first COMDEX in Japan, then we're a failure. There aren't that many qualified people who should come to the show.

When we measure the success of the first year's COMDEX/Japan, it will not be by comparison to anything else, but by comparing what happens against our goals. We anticipate that our attendee base will range around the mid-70,000s; we feel confident about that because we know what has happened in other markets that we've entered. And we're confident that we'll have 200 to 250 organizations exhibiting: big ones and small ones, from Japan, America, and other countries.

We are also interested in the key members of the press, from the key publications. We want them there, and they should write candidly, but we need them to understand what we are trying to do, so that they don't come up with a comparison of apples and oranges.

Will COMDEX/Japan be an annual event, and will it always be held in Tokyo?

Schwab: Yes, there will always be a COMDEX in Tokyo, and it will be annual. But there may, of course, be more than one. In Canada, a country much smaller than Japan, we now have three. I anticipate that at some point in the future, perhaps before the end of the century, there will be additional COMDEX events in Japan.

How do you respond to the person who complains that trade shows like COMDEX/Fall are growing too big for visitors to see everything, and that interesting products just get lost in the crowd?

Schwab: That is a possibility for the person who is not prepared. But we go to considerable length to educate and condition the attendee so that he can plan his time well.

I don't subscribe to the concept that there is anything too big. Take a giant shopping center; some of them in America are enormous. But when you go shopping there, you don't try to go into every shop. You decide you want to see certain kinds of products, then you make that the point of your visit.

There still are some IT professionals and members of the press who come to COMDEX without a plan. It breaks my heart to see a person come to the show the first day, pick up their program exhibits guide, and leaf through it figuring out what they're going to do. They're wasting valuable time. They could have done that in advance.

We are developing, and have developed since 1990, clusters (technology areas) within our events. If someone is motivated to come to COMDEX primarily for, say, the Internet, he'll be able to go to those areas and see a clustering of Internet-related companies. But at the same time, he can see other products, too, as he wants.

We have developed some tools to assist, such as COMDEX online. We have a planner so you can plan your time. You can link to the homepage of virtually every exhibitor, and they can tell you online what you will be able to see. You can sit in the comfort of your room, anywhere in the world, and figure out what you want to do ahead of time.

Speaking of the Internet, how do you foresee the Net affecting the IT distribution channel?

Schwab: We really believe that the Internet is just another technical capability of distribution. That's why we embrace that technology now. But five years from now, it will be something else. If we at Softbank Comdex are smart enough, and our exhibitors are smart enough, to recognize whatever shifts there are in distribution technique, we can continue to provide a service that is of value. If we miss that, then we're history.