Ouch, Ron!

Sprint CEO Ronald LeMay was telling an anecdote about his daughter to open up his NetWorld+Interop keynote this morning and in the process gave his hosts a little whack.

He was recounting how his daughter, who is apparently studying algebra, seemed confused by his announcement that he was going to speak at "N+I". She thought N+I was part of an equation.
"Does N+I equal anything, Dad?" she asked.

And he says he replied, "It doesn't equal anything, honey."

That's not a very generous evaluation of the show.

I picked up on that comment right away and felt it was a subliminal comment; an effort to retaliate for having to stand and speak in front of such a small keynote audience. I also agree with Time Greene that there was too much "TV commercial" up there; I mean, that was one long promo ad he showed us... It was well produced for sure, but, when you fly to a tradeshow to see the man in person, I'd rather hear him speak.

He was telling the truth! This show really lacks substance. It is very small and lacks the booth presence of big companies like Cisco, Microsoft, and others. In my opinion this show is not time well spent. I will be cutting my time in half. The show takes up less than one floor and that includes registration and network staff included in it. I will not attend, nor allow my staff to attend N+I for some years to come. If N+I could not have scheduled a better show then it should have cancelled. Not sure if 9/11 is the problem or the industry, but this show does not measure up to a normal N+I show. By the way Comdex was added to the title as an afterthought!

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