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After a 33 hour plus journey I managed to arrive home from TRAFFIC! Hooray! If you’ve never suffered from jetlag then I’m jealous. I love my home in Australia but I just wished it was a little closer to the rest of the world. Jetlag was compounded by our flights being delayed in Miami and LAX then we were routed via Sydney due to bad weather in Mebourne. You’ve just got to love international travel. Enough of that….what did I think of TRAFFIC?
 TRAFFIC was absolutely brilliant! Any event can be better but I measure brilliance on a fundamental measurement……Return On Investment. On this metric I had so many great meetings that it’s taken a full day of debriefing with the ParkLogic team to sort through everything.
I said to Howard Neu (TRAFFIC founder), “If you don’t do a lot of business at TRAFFIC then you’re and idiot.” I’m not trying to insult anyone in particular with this comment but more stating it as an observation that each person I spoke with was energised, excited and ready to do business at TRAFFIC. What more could you ask for?
I must admit that I chuckled when I read Owen Frager’s report on TRAFFIC indicating that TRAFFIC really wasn’t worth it and there wasn’t anything innovative at the show. Sorry Owen, I’ve been on many panels with you in the past and have a great respect for your marketing prowess but it’s clear you didn’t have a chat with the team at ParkLogic. We’re all about innovation and breaking new ground! Give me a call if you’d like a demonstration of what we’re up to. :-)
When you talk to either Rick or Howard from TRAFFIC they’re willing to trying anything new that will help inspire the industry. They are more than aware that sometimes they hit a home run and other times they strike out….but at least they’re trying. For instance, I missed the sit down meals but loved the way the exhibitors weren’t pushed away in another room.
I’m of the view that it’s always better to pitch in and help then it is to criticise so that’s what the three of us at ParkLogic did at TRAFFIC. We did whatever we could to help out which included stuffing bags, lifting boxes and anything else that the organisers thought needed doing. It’s easy to sit back and complain about different aspects of an event like TRAFFIC but for the sake of the industry I want it to be successful so pitch in and help we did. Besides that in my opinion the TRAFFIC team did an outstanding job!
I found that at TRAFFIC everyone has made a serious investment to attend which more than likely immediately qualified them as a serious industry player. This also means that you typically are talking with professional domain owners who are really interested in discussing a business deal rather than just picking your brains for ideas (nothing wrong with this BTW).
What I love about TRAFFIC the most is what is actually intangible. It’s the family atmosphere. It’s Rick, Alina, Howard, Barbara, Ray and Kim working in the back and up front to make the conference the best they can. It’s Danny and Chris on the tech side and also the other friends such as the Harnett’s, Berkens and Jackson’s that seem to bring a sense of fun, maturity and wisdom wherever they go. Getting alongside the calibre of people like this is what makes TRAFFIC what it is today.
I’ve attended every TRAFFIC conference that the founding team has put on and I haven’t regretted any of them. My company, ParkLogic sent three people to TRAFFIC and it cost a bundle with all of the international air fares etc but it was definitely worth it. I know that we’ll be back…..I just hope that there is one in Las Vegas in May!
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