They say pictures are worth a thousand words, well then below is a whole novel of information from our exhibition at CES 2010:

Our staff did an excellent job setting up our booth and positioning our equipment so that visitors could appreciate the large array of offerings we carried

Our staff were extremely helpful as they helped answer questions for the many visitors that stopped by our booth

CES 2010 is over, time to head back to the office

The start of a new year always brings with it a new CES trade show where cutting edge companies can show off their latest and greatest innovations and even their tried and true general products. This held true to its billing and although many publications made mention of the record attendance at the show, one thing was abundantly clear to those exhibiting and attending the show, there was a considerable decrease in the number of companies exhibiting at the show. Some of that is due to natural attrition and a good portion is due to economic hardships brought on from the current financial crisis, but a number of previous exhibitors that I spoke to simply felt the show did not have the appeal it once did.

You always can tell when a show is loosing its pull with exhibitors when the show floor begins to shrink (as was the case in the south hall where nearly a quarter of the 1st floor was curtained off and a far greater than before amount of space was dedicated to dining and rest stations where booths normally occupied). In fact just 2 short years ago, CES not only filled up the entire LV convention center (there were no curtained off or dining/relaxing space on the show floor), but also took up about 3 quarters of the Sands Expo Convention Center as well. There was a glaring difference in the feel and size of this years exhibitors, not so much with the major fortune 500 companies but from the small to medium business which count on these trade shows to get the attention of both the general public and corporate movers and shakers to grow their businesses.

Even with the reduction is attendees, we managed to have a very productive show and had numerous quality meetings and discussions with potential customers and venders. So our commitment to exhibiting at CES is unchanged, but I merely hope that it can regain its luster and appeal as the worlds most prominent electronics show.

Vinpower Digital recently traveled to the U.A.E for a trade show in Dubai and made a strong impact on the local news. Below are scanned images of press clippings from the AL-Jazirah Newspaper dated Thursday, October 22, 2009:

As we prepare for another Gitex, (this will be our 5th year participating in what is billed as the largest ICT trade show in the Middle East), we are encouraged by the rapid adoption of digital duplication in this growing marketplace. As Vinpower Digital expands our offerings from optical disc into common flash duplication through our USB Duplication line, we are certain that this expansion will be a huge success in the Middle East region.

From our experience, as technology continues to expand rapidly, the biggest winners are developing nations where they can merely leap frog old technology for the newer more easily adaptable to countries with minimal old technology infrastructure. For example, take phone service. In many 3rd world and developing nations, they were unable to cable the entire country (especially remote locations) for standard land line telephony. With the introduction of wireless cell phone technology, those countries/regions are able to integrate cell phone towers throughout the region at a far lower cost and hence allow the entire area to have communication capabilities where it once seemed impossible.

So, as we do every year, we look forward to the expanding and capable market of the Middle East as a strategic growth center for new and emerging technologies.

去る6月5日、6月6日、台湾の台北で開催されたCOMPUTEX2009に行ってきました。
COMPUTEX行くのは2年振りだったのですが、去年から新しい会場が増えて
一段と規模が大きくなっていました。

ストレージ関連のブースが集まっている南港ホールの1階を中心に見て廻りました
が、
気になるデュプリケータ関連の展示は2年前より確実に増えていました。
今年はCD/DVD等の光学ディスクデュプリケータに留まらず、SDカード、USBメモリ
等の
フラッシュメモリーデュプリケータの展示も各所で見られ、新しい市場を予感しま
した。
また会場が広くなったことで、各ブースの大きさも2年前より大きくなっており
この分野の成長を感じました。

VinpowerDigitalのブースでは、従来からある、CD/DVDデュプリケータ、オート
ローダ、
盤面プリンタ製品に加えて、今年は新たにBDデュプリケータ、USBメモリデュプリ
ケータ、
HDDデュプリケータ、そしてコピープロテクトデュプリケータの展示デモが行われ
ていました。
コピープロテクトデュプリケータに関しては、従来のデュプリケータでコピープロ
テクト
が出来ることと、互換性が高いとのことで、まだ詳細は明かされていませんでした
が、
製品化されれば非常に魅力のある製品になるでしょう。

ところで、一般客に無料解放される最終日といえば、ショータイムに
コンパニオンが舞台の上からノベルティグッズを投げまくる
「ばらまき（と呼ぶのかどうか分からない…）」が名物となっています。
今年もあちらこちらのブースでばら撒き目当てに黒山の人だかりが出来ていまし
た。
例えば、Microsoftのブースではこんな感じです。

1. ショー開始、コンパニオンのダンス
2. 製品説明（中国語、ハイテンションで）
3. グッズばら撒き開始
コンパニオンの「Windows?」の問いかけに、聴衆、「S E R V E R !!!!!」と拳
ã‚’
振り上げ叫ぶ。（音楽ライブのような感じで）

どうやら、声のデカイ人にノベルティグッズ（ボールペン、LEDライト）
が配られたり、投げられたりするようで、一段とデカイ声を出した人には
USBメモリが手渡されました。

「これは手ぶらでは帰れない！」
2列目に陣取っていた私も意を決して、「S E R V E R !!!!!」
叫びまくり……

結局、何もゲットできませんでした。

ほかのブースでも
「Nvidia?」という問いに「No.1!!!!」と叫んだり（もちろん拳も振り上げ）
しましたが、やっぱりダメでした。

全体的に、会場が広がったせいか、来場者の少なさが少し気になったものの、
ゆったり見学できたので良かったです。

I went to the 2009 COMPUTEX TAIPEI in June to look around and see the new products. This year’s COMPUTEX TAIPEI was different from the last time I attended, 2 years ago. With the completed new hall that has been incorporated since last year made the overall exhibition hall feel as though it was built on an enormous scale.

The majority of my time there was spent walking around booths related to Data Storage located on the first floor of the Nangang exhibition hall. I was quite impressed by how many more duplicators were shown this year compared to more than 2 years ago on my last visit. Besides optical disc duplicators, I also saw many flash memory (SD card and USB memory) duplicators within the hall. With new products constantly coming out and many booths increasing, I felt this field’s growing.

Vinpower Digital Inc’s booth has especially grown in comparison to the last time I attended. Besides the CD/DVD duplicators and Autoloaders as usual, Vinpower had a lot of new exhibits, such as BD duplicators, USB memory duplicators, Disc printers, HDD duplicators and copy protect duplicator for the ultimate security.

The Copy protect duplicators prevent unauthorized copying of protected discs, yet retains the recorded discs strong compatibility. If you ask me about the units detailed operation principles, I still have no idea. But I believe it must be very attractive to many people.

On another note, visitors could get free gifts within the exhibition. Guiding girls threw free gifts from stage to the visitors. It was very interesting.
For example, many people gathered in front of Microsoft’s booth.
1. Show began with dancing from the guiding girls.
2. Product explanation by Chinese.
3. Began distributing the free gifts. (Atmosphere looked liked a Rock concert.)
When the guiding girls asked “Windows?” the visitors raise their fists and answered “S E R V E R !!!!!” together. When the audience would respond, the loudest voice could get a special ballpoint pen and LED light. Then the loudest voice could get a USB memory device.
All right, I said to myself. Plus, I made up my mind do not return empty-handed. So I joined the crowd and stood in the second row.
「S E R V E R !!!!!」
I used my loudest voice and tried my best ……

Finally, I got nothing.
Then I tried another booth. Similar to the Microsoft booth
「Nvidia?」
「No.1!!!!」
I failed again.

On the whole, the increased size of the exhibition hall made me feel as thought there were visitors less than before even though I knew that to not be true. It’s good for me to see around at a leisurely pace. Hopefully I can attend again and see how the trade shows evolves.

COMPUTEX TAIPEI has become the largest computer exhibition trade show in Asia and the second largest in the world, next to the CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany. Key global businesses come to Computex every year to launch their new products or discover new or more cost effective products to sell.

We have exhibited at COMPUTEX for a few years now, but this time our booth was located in a prime position inside the Nangang Hall, which is the primary hall with the most traffic. With that, Vinpower Digital greatly increased our visibility of existing and new products to a great number of buyers from around the world. We showcased numerous products including our Tower series of SharkCopiers duplicators (from CD/DVD to BluRay as well as the LightScribe capable versions), our autoloader series (which are all also available as CD/DVD, BluRay and LightScribe capable versions), our new flash media duplicator (for USB, SD/Compact Flash, and hard drive models) among other key duplication related products we offer.

As a leading manufacturer and distributor of duplication system and complementary items, we provide the total solution from discs, to duplicators, to disc printers (either inkjet or thermal printers). Whatever your duplication needs, we have the product to complete the job!

Recently, one of the fastest growing methods for distributing content is through flash memory which is most commonly recognized as USB pen drives or SD/Compact Flash cards. Recognizing the growth and potential for this market, Vinpower Digital has developed our own line of flash copiers like the USB Shark duplicator with many useful features, such as the Smart Copy function.

In addition, Vinpower Digital will introduce a new function for our DVD duplicator line to include a specialized copy protection application using our CPS technology. To demonstrate the applications playback capability, we played a video of the recent movie trailers. It was an instant hit as many people stopped by to watch it. With the non-stop camera clicks and flashes, it was easy to see how popular our booth was with the Computex attendees.

We also showcased the next level in standalone duplication towers, the network capable SharkNet. These systems can be connected to an internal network using standard LAN/Ethernet connections so that an entire office has the benefit of sending their image files and/or LightScribe print files to the duplicator to be copied.

Overall it was a successful trade show and we would like to thank all of those previous and potential future customers who visited our booth. Because of your support, we are excited to continue to make new and improved products well into the future! Voice your idea, Vinpower Listens; we work with your needs in mind.

Trade shows are not all serious, it’s also a good opportunity to build relationships and have a good time. As shown in the image below, Alec is having a good time as we break the tension in our boardroom with some lighthearted humor.

Some look at trade shows as great opportunities or even necessary evils while others see them as unnecessary and a misdirection of marketing funds. It really all depends on your target audience and your companies marketing and sales strategy. For us, trade shows are both necessary and a tremendous opportunity for future business development and potential sales possibilities.

Vinpower Digital is a hybrid company where we function in two worlds; as a manufacturer developing products and components for other companies in the digital duplication field as well as a distributor of duplication accessories and peripherals like blank media. It is for this reason that trade shows are so important in our strategic marketing approach.

Recently we attended both the NAB trade show in Las Vegas, NV and Retail Vision in Boca Raton, FL over a course of two weeks. The NAB show is more consumer driven and focuses on all elements of broadcasting which duplication is a major element in this industry. So NAB is beneficial in creating greater awareness for consumers of our product range. Retail Vision is more focused on B2B business which allows us to interface directly with buyers and purchasing agents for various brick and mortar and web based retail sites. In order to achieve the best market penetration, it’s imperative that we work with as many partner sales channels as possible without cannibalizing our customer base. So reaching working with these various retail venues which all have strong customer bases, we can maximize our sales and opportunities.

Of course trade shows are not for everyone. If a company has a comfortable base and is not looking to expand or focuses more on their niche sales channel than volume business, those marketing funds could be better applied toward other services or outlets. But regardless of whether your company is big or small, participating in the right focused trade shows could be the difference between expansion or stagnation/contraction.

The only warning I have for those looking to expand their business through trade shows; firstly make sure the customer base is appropriate for your product line or else it’s a complete waste of time and money. Secondly, it’s no miracle elixir. Creating a strong channel takes time and repeated impressions, participating in one trade show may not be enough to rocket sales, it may take repeat impressions over a period of time to really have the impact necessary.

After an anxious and prolonged wait, I finally received the photograph that I took with the world renowned Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California.

Ryan Swerdloff, VP of Marketing at Vinpower Digital with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California at the CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany March 2009.