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Comment RSSShould ad:tech NYC be canceled?
Written by Pace LattinNovember 2, 2012 # 12:09 pm # Industry News, Specials # 24 Comments
Despite this week ad:tech officials telling people that they were planning to go on with the show, insiders have told PMI that they are considering canceling the show. Several sponsors personally called me, telling me that they have already asked for refunds on their sponsorships – plus more than a few exhibitors saying there are serious problems in the show continuing.
While still saying the show must go on, officials at ad:tech have sent a limited survey to people asking about their attendance. Clearly they are considering what the next steps should be in regards to adtech, and need to come to a decision today.
Here are some of the issues that exhibitors and attendees are having:
- Hotels have refused to confirm when they are opening, and will some will not assure reservations at this time.
- One of the warehouses that have many of the exhibits is still underwater, and there is no way to know the extent of the damage. More than likely the exhibits are somewhat destroyed by salt water and unusable.
- Those who need to ship exhibits have been told there is limited availability to ship by the shipping companies, including some companies that have told them they wont be able to get the exhibits in for over a week because of backups.
- No one can guarantee transportation into Manhattan from the airport. One airport is just opening today, and all airports have limited ability still.
- Flights cannot be confirmed for the next week by many of the major airlines.
As someone who spent the majority of their life in NYC, I fully support having events after the disaster. NYC will survive, and always be a great place. However, maybe its not a good idea when there are still parts of the city being forced to give out water, and with almost no way to currently easily get into NYC, to cancel the event. I understand the revenue implications, but the industry might appreciate some leadership – and perhaps ask companies to use the money to go to charity and those affected by Sandy.
We have been unable to reach anyone at ad:tech for comment, and all calls and extensions that we’ve tried have gone unanswered to us. I have however changed the title to “should” adtech be canceled. Although they are still having a survey about if you are attending or not, and why. http://na.ad-tech.com/ny/ad-tech-ny-survey/
Update 4:55PST: adtech sent out the following message
We’d like to confirm that next week’s ad:tech New York event WILL TAKE PLACE as planned Nov 7-8th, 2012. We just heard that the marathon has been cancelled so want to reconfirm that our show is going ahead as scheduled.
Our team has made a full assessment of the situation at Javits. We’ve seen the extraordinary measures the Javits Center staff is making. We’ve also witnessed the heroic measures the City of New York is taking to get the city running again and keep New York City open for business. We asked you, the members of the digital marketing community—exhibitors, delegates, speakers—and overwhelmingly you said the same thing: the show must go on. Contrary to the rumors circulating on the web WE’RE RE-CONFIRMING: the ad:tech New York 2012 show is a GO.
New York is a resilient city, and its people and businesses have endured hardships before. Each and every time they’ve come back stronger. Mayor Bloomberg has made a point of encouraging businesses to get back to work as soon as they’re able and we feel an obligation to keep our commitments to the industry, the city and the ad:tech eco-system—hotels, taxis, restaurants and other venues and vendors—that benefit from the show. Thank you for your patience and persistence.
Since ad:tech is happening so closely on the heels of Sandy it should be expected there will be some logistical challenges. But given that our show takes place entirely within Javits, we feel we should go ahead. New York and the greater ad:tech community are incredibly supportive, and we’re sure we’ll see that spirit displayed throughout what we know will be an amazing show.
See you in New York next week!
-the ad:tech team
Since this was originally written its been announced that a major storm will be hitting the NY area again. While it’s not going to be a hurricane, it’s going to be a severe cold front to NYC when so many New Yorkers still don’t have power for heat. Considering much of the area is still suffering, people don’t have gas, water, electricity, ways to get to work, many people have pointed out this may not be a good time for having a conference for humanitarian reasons.
Written by Pace Lattin
Pace Lattin is one of the top experts in interactive advertising, affiliate marketing. Pace Lattin is known for his dedication to ethics in marketing, and focus on compliance and fraud in the industry, and has written numerous articles for publications from MediaPost, ClickZ, ADOTAS and his own blogs.
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Well I booked to go after Sandy had happened and before Adtech said the show was still on.
It never entered my head that a week after the event that the water would not be gone and that the show would be cancelled. None of the people I have organised meetings with seem to be concerned, all are still going.
I did hear that some may have issues with their booths, that happens even without hurricanes.
If companies booths are not there, it doesn’t matter, just send your people. I saw booths with just a few chairs and pizza boxes do a roaring trade at Adtech in London, no fancy posters, leaflets. Attendees like me will understand.
I’m flying in from London.
I like your style Jim! Clickbooth will still be there. And agreed, if some booths didn’t make it, I can imagine that won’t deter from networking and closing those crucial business deals.
And Jim, you’ll have to stop by and say hi!
Lyndsie, absolutely I will. I even think I have RSVP’d for Pascha, looking forward to that.
Thanks to everyone else that has responded, both here and privately, I know there will be enough people there to make the event a success, inspite of this and the last thing a city needs when these things happen is to grind to a halt. I lived in Hong Kong for 20 years and we had 5-10 typhoons a year and a major one every 8-10 years, these things happen, you have to roll with it, last year I missed Adtech San Francisco because of the Iceland volcano I was stranded in another country.
Game on everyone.
http://na.ad-tech.com/ny/exhibitors/logmycalls/
LogMyCalls will be there! We are exhibiting in Innovation Alley, and accepting our innovation award.
Adtech tells us the show is on! (and they will be ready)
(We power Affiliate Pay Per Call, and do it Better! Come Learn what makes us better then the rest! )
Guy@LogMyCalls.com
I would hate for it to be cancelled (which would mean throwing my travel tickets and time spent on presentation into the trash bin). Per https://twitter.com/adtech/status/264476248527486976 the show is going to happen, though. And I’m glad to hear this.
Geno Prussakov recently posted..Affiliate Management Days West 2013 Call for Speakers Open
As of right now, ividence is also still exhibiting. We’ll be in booth 2135, so feel free to stop by.
clickXchange.com will be there. We look forward to meeting new faces and reconnecting with the people we know.
I think its wrong to keep the show going. These shows are not cheap, and a company that loses its booth, collateral’s, giveaways, and equipment cannot represent their company acceptably. Plus when your teams now have no guaranteed hotel reservations, and travel into the city is so limited I don’t think the attendance is going to be very good. I wish I was wrong, but I have seen show attendance cut in half for reasons far less than this. For those companies that did lose their booths I think ad:tech needs to let them transition to another show.
It’s November 5th, Monday before the show – parts of the tristate area still has no power. Many parts are still UNDER WATER. People don’t have food or water or in many cases a HOME.
Yet people still want to attend the ULTIMATE PARTY with washed up rappers.
Really?
Sad state of affairs in my mind.
Cancel the show – cancel your employees attending – DONATE to charity – OR – fly your employees in and have them help at shelters for a few days.
That my friends is better than any bullshit show, networking, PR, etc.
My two cents.
Thanks for bringing up these points…
The party being hosted by Clickbooth, CPAWay, and ADK is not having a rapper, and since the party is 100% free, we are collecting donations at the door and matching what is collected.
You just lost 50% of the attendance by saying “No Rapper”.
Good lord how many ad networks are at that thing?
Can’t someone come up with a company name that doesn’t start with “click”
After all 99.95% of the people you serve your ads to don’t click on them.
No one told you to go and your opinion is only your opinion. Everyone just bitches and moans and nothing get accomplished. No one in Miami, or Louisiana after a hurricane says, dont come here, dont spend money in our city and boost our economy, dont try to get things and people back to normal. Yes the parties are with washed up rappers and getting lamer every year, but who cares? Just DONT GO… Also, just because the people are not directly donating their money to a “Charity” doesn’t mean its not going to people who need it.. Taxi drivers, Restaurants, shops, grocery stores, OH YA and anyone in hospitality (which is 70% of new york).
So its simple. Go, or Don’t Go because people will be there LIKE IT, or NOT.
Sorry folks.
1. Taxis – most are not running due to gas shortage.
2. Restaurants – many don’t have power.
3. Grocery Stores – you obviously have not been to NYC – but the bodegas are nice though!
As for other conference being held after Katrina, you are right, I cannot prove if there were or there weren’t, but there’s definitely higher priorities.
Definitely go if you wish, enjoy, have a good time, hopefully your hotel isn’t overbooked and you are not sitting in the lobby for 5 hours waiting and getting upset.
Enjoy – tell Vanilla Ice I said Hi.
After strongly considering cancelling the trip, we decided to make the best of it by doing some fundraising for the American Red Cross at our booth (1938).
For the duration of the show we will match all contributions made by texting ‘REDCROSS’ to 90999 which will result in a $10 donation directly to American Red Cross. 100% of all donations go to the American Red Cross.
Just stop by our booth, show one of our team your confirmed text contribution and we will send one ourselves. No limit. No gimmicks. We are just trying to help.
I spent most of my life in NJ and have many people close to be that are adversely affected by this storm and we feel this is the best way to help.
If you would prefer to send a contribution directly to Red Cross here is a link: http://www.redcross.org/support/donating-fundraising/donations/text-messaging
Less attendees can be a GOOD thing, for both attendees and exhibitors. It means it will be a more intimate environment, like it used to be years ago. It’s actually a better atmosphere to get business done. PLUS, Sandy will filter out the “weakest” from the herd, only the toughest will attend, that’s who you want to do business with anyways, right?
Think natural selection.
You’re welcome.
I cancelled the tip most definatley. My company has a lot of NYC clients and NJ clients. NO way, the city is destroyed they are still trying to find the victims of this tragedy. My opinion show some respect or volunteer to help the loved people of NYC.
A big party is not cool.
Just my opinion.
Have fun at the show. Noticed that most of you are not from NY who think “the show should go on.” It takes 2.5 hrs to get into town from Jersey City, Parts of lower Manhattan is closed and hotels are turning away people with reservations if they are housing refugees. I would recommend confirming your room is still available. Also there is minimal maid service in some hotels in midtown.
If you are planning on meeting with agency peeps, many of them are canceling.
Have a good time. That said it will be a vastly different experience than in years past.
I’m checking with my airline to see if i can bring a few gallons of gasoline in my suitcase for the taxi driver
or maybe a foldable bike hmmm
i haven’t biked in like 20 years hmm, maybe not
First off.. Many hotels are open, many restaurants are open and everyone if trying to do business as usual. If you expect to get a taxi, it will likely not happen in a timely fashion.
SMARTER people think ahead and go get a car service (Google Car service and start calling..) Trust me, for $150-200 each way you can get to and from the Airport, or anywhere in the city you need to go without waiting 2 hours for a cab. Is it worth it to you to pay a little more and get where you need to go? I thought you are all ballers with tons of money, cars, houses and thriving companies… Isn’t that always the common BS you here from every internet company that can barely pay their pubs, or many times their light bill. (HAHA) Many of the people that are going to Adtech are not from NY, but there will certainly be people from the north east there including NY companies. Its says a lot for an NY company to go to the show in spite of the adversity, assuming you can. No one will think less of them for not having all their show material, or crappy giveaways per usual.. People will relate and appreciate the fact that they are there at all. Frankly I would have far more respect for a company that makes it work in spite of everything. Those are the people you can count on to get things done without any excuses. People from out of town have paid thousands, if not tens of thousands of which they cannot get back in many cases, so yes.. They still want to the show to go on. Not everyone needs to lose because the people of NY, NJ, etc are in hard times. Our revenues will help, not hurt their situation.
You are selfish if you think otherwise and frankly, I doubt many people would disagree with that.
If you cant go, dont go. Sorry for you..
Furthermore, if you are one of the MANY that doesn’t have power then why wouldnt you want to go to Adtech. They have lights, AC and working bathrooms. Come in and get some.
Hopefully many of you will lift up your skirt, grab a set of balls and we will see you there!
Do you think I should shave my balls first before grabbing them?
So angry.
New Orleans did eventually welcome conference business after Katrina, but they didn’t do it 1 week after the storm. With so many still without power and transportation impossible I don’t think it makes much sense. I do think it is a shame though if companies lose all their money they already spent to go.
Some funny comments here! Regardless of your opinion or mine about the inappropriateness of Adtech to hold the show, they are still holding it. We are just trying to make the best of it by using our booth as a venue for fundraising to help people whose lives were affected by this tragic event.
IF you decide to attend the event please make sure to stop by booth 1938, send ‘REDCROSS’ as a text message to 90999 to donate $10 and show it to us. We will send a message from our mobile phones and match your contribution dollar for dollar. No limit on contributions.
No bullshit. No solicitation. I personally guarantee it.
Thank you to everyone for your help.
The feedback that I was given from people who attended was, “turnout was poor, you didn’t miss much”. Oh well, c’est la vie.