A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum Solutions Exchange floor (forgive me for the corny humor…)

In previous years the Solutions Exchange floor usually opened with a the Hall Crawl which was at the end of the first day (i.e. Monday). This year it opened on Sunday afternoon and was open until the end of Wednesday.

I have not been able to find out what the rationale was behind this, and it depends on who you ask this was either a good / a bad thing.

The Good

1. People at the show on Sunday – could already get on the floor to speak to Vendors.
2. The mad rush for giveaways for SWAG was not on Thursday afternoon – which means the vendors closed up shop early – and they could make it home back in time for the end of the week.
3. Sessions on Thursday – actually had people in them. I have never seen so many people in sessions on the last day of the show – they had nowhere else to go..
4. It was quiet – you could hear yourself.
5. It was less crowded – because people had already gone back home.

The Bad

1. Vendors had to arrive before Sunday to set everything up – I guess that some of them were already there on Saturday or Friday.
2. I did not count the hours – to see if they had more or less show floor hours than previous years.If there were less hours then it was not good for the vendors.
3. It was less crowded – that means people did not stay for the last day.
4. As a participant, to get full use of the session floor – you needed to be there on Sunday.

It would be interested in hearing why this change was made, and what the attendees, VMware and the vendors think about it.

Please feel free to add your comments below.

I appreciated the quiet on Thursday and happy to see so many people – even at the last scheduled sessions on Thursday.