My First SIFMA Show - By Janet Lustgarten

This was the event Kx attended in the hope of meeting Wall Street decision makers. Attendees would gather information and stuff their white plastic bags with reading material, for the ride to Westchester or up the East side. It was the late 90s and the Hilton was a very civilised venue. We stood at the booth or walked around the show for three days. I got to know most of the vendors, I think there was no more than 300 or so. We ran into the guys we couldn’t reach by phone. Away from the office everyone had two minutes to spare. They would say “tell me about your product – what does it do?”. Or if they knew us they had a few minutes for a chat. B.I. – before the internet, SIA was different.

The truth is that as I would enter the Hilton I would compare the show to the Fancy Food Show – at the Javitz. The Fancy Food show was more difficult to reach, on the west side, but the rewards were always tasty treats. At SIFMA, the give-aways were only kisses and m&m chocolates. But the biggest difference between the two shows was that about 50% of the attendees at the fancy food show would taste something, consider their clientele and decide, on the spot, to place an order. Kx never received an order on the spot yet we gave many people a taste of Kx.

Janet Lustgarten is CEO of kx Systems.