2010 C2ES CONFERENCE

Last week I attended C2es, a technology conference for the K-12 through higher education market, hosted by Douglas Stewart in Madison, Wis. For most guests it was a time to meet face to face the sales reps that only exist on the phone or through email the rest of the year, or to learn “How College Students Think” (break-out session 1), or to eat mashed-potato cocktails (in martini glasses- clever idea!), or snack on the hour every hour.

For me, it was a time to geek-out, which is my way of explaining my face suddenly flushing and the goofy grin I had when by a vendor I particularly liked. This “reaction” happened most notably around the Wacom, Adobe, Skullcandy, Quark, Mindjet, Dell, V-moda and Techsmith tables. They also happen to be some of my vendor favorites. Weird…

Here’s a brief vendor breakdown:

For one thing the Techsmith reps were full of helpful tidbits, not only about their products but about everything else as well. Have you ever heard of Jing? Well now you have- check it out. Do you know how vendors can give away such awesome, customized swag for free? I do. Industry secret, can’t tell you.

Skullycandy had a Plinko board and dj, V-moda the svelte laid back reps that oozed L.A chic. Dell had a bunk bed and was giving away 4 Netbooks while Abode gave away a full CS5 suite (I can’t believe I missed that!)! And around the corner Professional Cable used an iPad app to randomly choose a winner…for the iPad!

Insanity ensued.

And although I didn’t win the Netbook, CS5, the iPad or that trip to the World Cup (kidding), I did win a Flip HD camera (thank you Nuance Communications), a pair of Skullycandy and V-moda headphones. Expect reviews in the near future.

The Wacom reps let me take over their Cintiq demo and bombard them with fan-dom questions while NovaThink wowed me with their solar powered recharge station for the iPhone. Chill Pill’s speakers made me wish for college days in the Quad and William from Moshi is probably the biggest Bon Jovi fan I’ve ever met.

The On Your feet breakout sessions were an innovative and fun way to network and Alloy Media (yes, THE Alloy Media) had some helpful tips as well. The Douglas Stewart Company fed us about every 3 hours with snacks in between on the dot: I ate far too much. The hotel was easy to navigate, which was great for a first timer like me, and our room faced the Capital building which is quite a sight at night. In all, I had a blast at C2es 2010 and am excited for what next year’s conference will bring!


Blog Contributor
Sabella Flagg
Design & eCommerce Coordinator
ScholarBuys Academic Marketing