Las Vegas set for annual Comdex onslaught

Friday, Nov. 12, 1999 | 10:59 a.m.

Some 2,000 companies are setting up exhibits and 200,000 people are headed to Las Vegas for the annual Comdex convention and trade show that begins Monday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas Hilton, Sands Expo Center and its adjacent Venetian hotel-casino.

Exhibitors and conventioneers who arrive early will hear Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Gates, who speaks Sunday night in a keynote address.

Comdex, the No. 1 trade show in the world's No. 1 trade show city, is closed to all but representatives of the computer industry.

While new devices, software and services at the trade show generate enthusiasm for conventioneers, coping with so many people will keep local agencies on their toes.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has been planning for Comdex since last year's show ended. Spokesman Rob Powers said trade show floor accommodations are better than ever this year and Comdex will use new convention halls instead of temporary tent structures erected in parking lots.

Comdex organizers have told delegates attending the show that "size does matter ... (and) the new Vegas is finally big enough."

"Mountains of new hotel rooms, expanded convention facilities and a new airport wing will greet you this year at Comdex Fall '99, as Las Vegas sets to welcome the (information technology) industry and the new millennium with a giant welcome mat," says a preview of the show on the Comdex website.

"Las Vegas has donned a visitor-friendly cap with thousands of new hotel rooms," the preview says in its description of the Venetian hotel-casino and Paris Las Vegas, both new since last year's show. The Comdex preview also touts the Bellagio, an expansion at the Hard Rock Hotel and the opening of the Hampton Inn and the Four Seasons Hotel at the new Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.

The Resort at Summerlin also opened since Comdex '98.

A spot check of some resorts Thursday indicated that not every hotel room has been taken. The Venetian told callers that all rooms for Monday night have been booked.

But the Bellagio and Paris Las Vegas had rooms available for Monday, at $529 and $259 a night, respectively.

The high rates are a part of the love-hate relationship Comdex and the resorts have with each other.

Comdex delegates have complained that the resorts gouge them when they come to town with rates three to five times higher than normal. The resorts counter that Comdex delegates don't gamble as much as most conventioneers and the high room rates compensate for the low casino play.

The Venetian makes its Comdex debut with this year's show. Bill Sell, vice president and general manager of Comdex, is enthusiastic about having the Venetian in the mix, because the resort gives the show a front door to the Las Vegas Strip.

He also said the Venetian will provide more places for delegates to get transportation. Sell expects taxis will continue to be in short supply, though the Nevada Taxicab Authority has approved additional cabs to operate during the event. The number of extra cabs allowed varies through the six days of the show.

Because the Venetian venue will be new to delegates, some are expecting confusion as conventioneers adjust to where taxi zones and shuttle bus areas are located. The first real test will be Sunday night, when Gates speaks at a keynote address at the Venetian.

In past years, Gates' appearance has been attended by 20,000 people. When he spoke from the Aladdin Theater of the Performing Arts and from the Las Vegas Hilton convention area, overflow crowds were shuffled into adjoining rooms where they watched the Microsoft leader on television monitors.

Gates' company has been in the news this week after a federal judge ruled that Microsoft is a predatory monopoly. Gates is expected to talk about the future of his Windows platform and steer away from politics and controversy.

Probably the most entertaining keynote address of the week will occur Tuesday when Novell Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt is joined by comedians Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon on stage. Carvey and Nealon are expected to reprise some of the characters they made famous on "Saturday Night Live" and lampoon some of the foibles of e-commerce on the World Wide Web.

Other industry heavyweights on the slate: John Chambers, president and chief executive officer of Cisco Systems; Carly Fiorina, president and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard; Nobuyuki Idei, president and chief executive officer of Sony Corp.; Linus Torvalds, founder of the Linux Operating System; and Scott McNealy, chairman and chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems Inc.