MediaLive International Inc. on Wednesday announced that it has postponed this year’s Comdex 2004 computer trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company still plans to have Comdex 2005 in Las Vegas next year, however. This news only affects the Las Vegas show — all other Comdex-branded shows in Brazil, Korea, Scandanavia, Saudi Arabia and Greece are still planned.
MediaLive President Robert W. Priest-Heck stated that while his company could still run a profitable show in Las Vegas this year, “it does not benefit the industry to do so without broader support of the leading technology companies.” Priest-Heck indicated that the cancellation of this year’s Las Vegas show was done to give the Comdex advisory board additional time to redesign the event. The board includes executives from major vendors including AMD, Borland, EMC, Microsoft, Oracle and Samsung. Cisco, Dell and Intel have also agreed to join.
Comdex was once the 800-pound gorilla of tech trade shows, attracting about 200,000 attendees and occupying two entire convention centers in Las Vegas at its peak. The event has seen a sharp fall-off in attendance and vendor participation in recent years, ultimately leading to Key3Media Group Inc.’s decision to file for bankruptcy. Last year’s event attracted about 40,000 attendees.
MediaLive International is the former Key3Media Group Inc., which emerged from bankruptcy in 2003.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.