A severe high-tech recession with little or no light at the end of the tunnel, massive layoffs, their stock options no even worth the paper they are written on, a war, and fear of terrorism kept close to 100,000 Comdex regulars away from this year's show. The atmosphere was about as cheerful as a post-funeral reception.

What a difference from the louder-is-better, raucous party atmosphere of Comdex shows of past years. It was a somber and sober crowd this year. Those who showed up focused on business matters grilling exhibitors on the capabilities and features of their products. No one wants to make any purchase mistakes. The margin of error has been scaled back severely.

The only ones that seemed as enthusiastic as ever were the local residents, students and other "consumers" getting their Comdex fix with a week-long hunt for the latest in sqeezeball, jojo and other give-away gadgetry. Because so many of the serious conventioneers were absent, the locals added irritation to the severe new annoyance of having to stand in long security lines every time you enter the convention center.

As usual, the least bearable place on the Comdex floor was the jam-packed Microsoft Partner Pavilion where hundreds of companies are crammed in ultra-small spaces. Many demonstrated their latest .NET products or Windows XP compatibility.

The Comdex party list was uncommonly short as many companies had a tough time spending lavishly on open bars and high-end catered food bazaars at a time when budgets are trimmed to the bone. The lack of parties actually forced many Comdex visitors accustomed to being wined and dined all week to pay for their own food. Some were even seen killing time in the evening by sitting down at blackjack tables and slot machines, a last-resort form of entertainment at past Comdex shows -- much to the chagrin of casino operators who experience their worst operational losses during Comdex. This year, they appeared happy just to see some people walking through their casino after more than a month of a largely morgue atmosphere on the Strip following the terrorist attacks, which have cost tens of thousands of casino workers their job.

Taxi and limousine drivers complained bitterly about this year's show. Fewer out-of-town visitors and the consolidation of Comdex into one venue meant far fewer cab rides. And all but a few Comdex visitors appeared to have an appetite for lucrative trips to the popular "Chicken Ranch" bordellos and striptease clubs located in the desert around Las Vegas. Besides the high fares for those trips, drivers make their best tips from "satisfied" customers.

"Perception is not always reality" was the slogan of Mercedes Benz, a major sponsor of Comdex. Those who visited Comdex for the first time easily came away with the impression that Comdex was as busy as ever. Lines were long everywhere, especially at the security check points. On the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center traffic at many booths was not all that below that of past years.

But looks can be deceiving indeed. Last year, some 200,000 visitors were divided between the city's two major convention centers, with 2/3 of the attendees wondering around the LVCC and the other third either at the Sands Convention Center or traveling in between. So with 120,000 or so people gathering in just the LVCC, the density of people in that facility was about the same as in past years.

"Lies, damn lies, and statistics," Churchill once said. The art of turning statistics into damn lies has clearly reached its highest level of perfection in the trade show business. Key3Media, one of the world's leading trade show organizers, is king of the hill when it comes to cooking up phony statistics.

In its effort to brand Comdex as the show no IT company should dare to skip, despite the clear implosion of the event that has been evident during the past three years, Key3Media used junk data collected from show visitors to paint a picture of an event where just about every attendee has a huge IT purchasing budget and plays a major role in IT purchasing decision.

Just look at the grandiose claims released from this week's Comdex attendee survey, using data collected when visitor register for their exhibit passes.

* Nine out of 10 COMDEX attendees are involved in the purchasing of IT products and services for their organizations. 84 per cent are attending COMDEX Fall to evaluate products. Purchasing is the second biggest reason for attending (70 per cent).

* 89 per cent are heavily involved in technologies such as infrastructure technologies

* 84 per cent are involved in security and contingency planning technologies

* A third of attendees are executives, a third are managers and a third are staff.

* More than three quarters are from general industries. The rest are resellers (13 per cent) or technology suppliers (10 per cent). With an attendance of 125,000, who would want to miss out on a crowd like that? Well, let's look at some reality behind the statistics.

* Exhibitors count for about 30,000 people. Other exhibitors will never get to see those "visitors" because they are too busy at their own booths

* Some 40,000 people are students from nearby University of Las Vegas and local high schools. Others are Las Vegas residents, many of them retirees for whom Comdex represents a great break from the monotony of living in the desert. Of course all these people sign in as President or CEO of some non-existing company with 1500 employees, $50 million in sales and a $10 million IT budget over which they have sole control. We all know that game. (So when the Comdex people say that 57 per cent of visitors report that Comdex is the ONLY high-tech trade show they attended this year. Well, that's probably because most are local residents who don't get out of Las Vegas much!)

* Another 10,000 or so people are non-purchasing peripheral visitors, like public relations people, media, financial analyst, market researchers and those actors and hot booth babes hired to attract those who are easily entertained and will do anything for a free t shirt. Add that all up and you're left with about 40,000 to 60,000 real visitors. That's still quite a few people. And if you're lucky, 1 in 50 of those folks will have a real potential interest, the budget and the decision-making power to purchase a large quantity of any exhibitors' product. So the real potential audience is about 800-1,000 people. And real statistics will show that only a certain percentage, probably not greater than 25% will actually find your booth and engage in a productive discussion.

It is worth spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for taking a chance on such as small group of potential customers.

YES! Of course it is from a product marketing point of view. If you need exposure for a new product or support the reseller channel, there are few places better to do that than at Comdex. At least two or three Comdex shows will tell any company whether the investment pays off. And over the years it has for most companies.

Comdex is not alone in producing misleading information about attendance and visitors’ quality. Cebit in Germany, world's largest IT trade show, claimed 830,000 visitors at the last event in March. But Cebit doesn't explain that people who purchase a multi-day pass, are counted each time they enter. Nor do Cebit statistics show a category for "Students" which comprise about 30 per cent of the visitors to that show.