Comments on: NECC – Vendor excess (aka Do pink Cadillacs really sell printers?)

By: David

David — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

I remember buying a town home a few years ago. My real estate agent drove a very pricing BMW. I know he did so because it communicated success and competence to his clients.

I just thought about how he was making enough money off my purchase to afford such an expensive car and felt ripped off.

By: Andrew B. Watt

Andrew B. Watt — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

I haven’t seen the pink cadillac yet.

I DID see a woman drawing with a program called Animation-ish in one of the halls (School 2.0, I think) and later caught up with those folks in the hall. I was impressed with their product, and the ways that my kids could use it (if I convince my school to purchase it), or the ways that I could use it to communicate to kids (if I bought it).

On the other hand, I was buttonholed at least twice by salespeople who focused in on me as if I was wearing a sign that said, “deer in headlights! hit this one” who gave me demos of products irrelevant to my teaching experience.

I have a school full of dyslexics. They’ve got great oral communications skills. We’re a Mac school. Can someone please, please, please make voice recognition software that works on our computers?

Moreover, I know my school. They’re lovely people, and wonderful teachers. But our one smartboard was essentially, effectively eviscerated four years ago and never reassembled. The one computer that ran the board, the projector, and the board all wound up separated from one another, and from the computer classroom that tied together demonstration with practice.

All the tech in that room could be given to my school for free tomorrow, and no one would have the slightest idea what to do with any of it. It’s not entirely clear that they would want to bother to learn.

By: Carl Anderson

Carl Anderson — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

I have been woefully disappointed in the booths at vendor halls at nearly every technology conference I have been to in the past three years. Quite frankly I feel sorry for the poor folks who have to represent their companies at these events. At the TIES conference in Minneapolis this year I witnessed people with iPhones talking to vendors and doing price comparisons on the spot that every time blew the competition away. Show me something new that I can use! Show me something that makes sense and I have never seen before!

By: Bill Ferriter

Bill Ferriter — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

Scott wrote:
A wish for more substance and and genuine engagement and less flash?

This is a perfect description of my wish for tech integration in schools, Scott!

So many building and district leaders forget about substance and engagement when making decisions about digital directions, opting instead for “shock and awe” campaigns designed to get gizmos into classrooms.

Now I know where they’re learning their lessons!
Bill

By: Barry

Barry — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

Scott, I agree with your statements, but you’ve asked the essential question when it comes to commercialism. Does a swoosh or Tiger Woods mean it is a better running shoe or golf club? Does two guys arguing if a PC or a Mac is better mean a better product? (Or better, does a woman throwing a sledgehammer at a TV screen mean a new age is coming?) Maybe, maybe not, but it does get our attention. However, once they have our attention, then what? That, I believe is the key to good instruction. We know technology is engaging to many students, but once they are engaged, then what? All flash and no substance as Bill stated above, or is the Pink Car an attention getter, and then the real substance begins?

By: rtscribe

rtscribe — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

What’s the difference between a snake oil salesperson and an IT salesperson?

At least the snake oil salesperson gives you something to drink.

By: Mike Curtin

Mike Curtin — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

I agree, Scott. A vendor with whom my district has a long history re-did their entire booth for this conference. It was filled with lots of “beach furniture”: umbrellas, blow-up chairs, etc. I was speaking with one of the reps at the booth and he told me they liked the new design because they didn’t have to deal with the expense of shipping materials home from the conference; they just leave it all behind and buy new stuff for each new conference. There you have it: the disposable booth. What a waste!

By: Tom K.

Tom K. — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

I agree with your comments. Wouldn’t it be interesting to put all the like-product vendors together on the exhibit floor? All interactive whiteboard companies in one section, all content providers together in a another section, etc. Maybe that would help drive innovation and give us educational purchasers an easier way to compare features and prices?

By: Michelle Baldwin

Michelle Baldwin — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

I stopped by the OKI booth to see what the Elvis/Pink Cadillac hype was all about. I thought it was hokey until they told me they were donating $5 for breast cancer research (hence the PINK cadillac) for every picture taken with Elvis… plus, they printed off your picture in 30 seconds and gave it away free.

As for the other booths, demos were too long, and I was really frustrated with the amount of internet filter tools, lockdown features, etc. (because schools can’t trust their employees and students!). The exhibitor area gets more and more circus-like every year.

By: James Torres

James Torres — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 05:00:00 +0000

As the former Acting Co-Chairperson for SIG-IVC at I.S.T.E. I was surprised at my first N.E.C.C. by the apparent disconnect between the vendors on the floor and the variety of available professional workshops.

The gaudiness of many of the vendor displays was reminiscent of many of the midway attractions of the countless state fairs I had attended growing up.

I then was given some insight into this disconnect when it came to my attention that these same vendors, all employing various techniques to grab the attention of a potential buyer, were providing some of the revenue that makes conventions, such as N.E.C.C., possible.

Whenever possible, there is a separation between the workshops and many of the vendors thus allowing ‘customers’ the ‘option’ to venture forth and peruse what may be available for use in any given educational environment.

With the cost involved in these types of endeavors it may be best described as a necessary evil…taken in that light, it can also be quite entertaining!