I had never been to London before and so going to this exhibition was also tied in with a visit to the Capital that I was very much looking forward to.
I hadn't heard much about the event before going as it was suggested by my Boss and we went along to see just what gadgets and innovations were available.
After the 3 hour bus journey and the short trip on the tube, by the way I think I know what TUBE stands for ( Throw Your Body Everywhere ), we arrived at Earl's court, a little unsure what to expect.
After previously looking at the official website, only to find that you cannot access the virtual exhibition until the show is on, which I thought rather strange we entered to be confronted by the Sony stand, only to be confronted by, another Sony stand, turn around, another Sony stand. I thought I had entered a Sony showroom.
After a while I had a walk around the other stands noticing that there were not exactly what I would call many "techie's" on the stand. Indeed, AOL's stand was phenomenol in its weirdness. I stood and watched a guy try to explain the simplest of tasks on the PC to many people stood watching. Im not sure if anyone followed what he said, but I will be surprised if anyone did. This was something I expected with an internet company, showing users how to use the internet. What I couldnt quite grasp was the young lady dressed as a schoolgirl, complete with rucksack, who proceeded to squirm and slide her way across the floor in front of us.
If this wasn't totaly strange then World Online (whom I have as my ISP I may add) had people doing magic tricks and juggling and playing with balloons. I mean Helloo !!! what has that got to do with World Online and the internet ?
I was hoping to talk to them about their recent merger with an Italian company. Could I find anyone to talk to about it? no.
This I found very evident in many of the stands in the show, lots of glitz, but absolutely no-one there w
illing to discuss anything, unless it was the latest stereo system costing 3 years salary ( This I am guessing because most were to scared to tell you the prices of their products.)
Then came the Warner DVD experience.. ohh you have to get a ticket.. means it must be good.
err.. no wrong again.
You were told what a DVD is, im sure only about 2% of the population didn't know beforehand, and then you were given a preview of their latest movie, Three Wise Men, or whatever it was called. I lost interest after 5 minutes in there. They should have just put a sign up saying " come and look at a preview of our new film"
Anyhow, sounds from all of the above that I did not enjoy the exhibition at all. far from it. I actually enjoyed it very much, apart from being deaf by the time I left.
There were actually some people who seemed to wanted to talk to you about their products rather than throw a leaflet in your hand and turn away.
Ericsson's stand talked to me as soon as I entered, in a very friendly and un-obtrusive manner and after having a discussion with the gentleman I agreed to purchase a chat board for my mobile phone. Shame it didnt work with my phone and i had to return it, but hey, nothing is perfect.
Must say that the one stand that really stood out for me was the dooyoo.co.uk stand. I looked at the leaflets and didnt actually understand what the site was about and thought I would look at it later at home. I was about to leave when a PC became free and i was then joined by Casilda Peel who proceeded to explain what the site was all about, clearly and to the point and I actually felt for the first time in the show that someone actually knew what tehy were talking about. The stand was fine, the help was excellent, and the whole idea of dooyoo and its blossoming community is, in my opinion, an absolutely great idea.
Which is why I am writing this after only arriving home 20 minutes after getting off the bus from Lond
on.
In a nutshell, the exhibition is very glitzy with great sound and great equipment, but if you want some really straight, informative useful information about ISP's and the internet, or about many other products there, then I am sorry, that is very lacking with the exception of a few stands, dooyoo.co.uk standing head and shoulders above the rest.