The feedback: noise pollution, freebies, rock shows and marketing gimmickshave reduced a serious business fair to a circus. As a result, some of theparticipating companies are complaining that they haven't been able toconduct business at the three-day fair, and have therefore incurred a hugeloss. Among the companies which appeared most upset about the way the IIWhas gone for them are Ericsson, Dishnet, India Bulls and VSNL. Mr GaganBanga, vice-president, marketing, India Bulls, sounded outright furious whenhe complained that his company's money - approximately Rs 5 lakh - has gonedown the drain at this fair. The India Bulls stall was surrounded byhigh-traffic stalls like India Today Group Online, Sify and eIndia, whichattracted huge crowds through B2C marketing strategies like rock shows,games and contests. India Bulls' objection: as these stalls attracted largecrowds at all times, even in business hours, people backed into the IndiaBulls stall to watch the fun and games happening in another stall.

Claiming that India Bulls has also suffered in terms of loss of equipmentdue to the crowd, Mr Banga said: "I had paid through my nose for the spaceand I haven't got even a third of it because of the encroachment happeningat all times." Although Mr Banga has complained to the organisers severaltimes, nothing has been done to redress the problems. Now, India Bulls isplanning to ask for a refund of the money that it had paid for renting thespace.

And next time, if the organisers don't get their objectives inperspective, India Bulls would opt out of the show, said Mr Banga. Next toIndia Bulls was the Ericsson stall, which had a similar experience to share.

Mr Jatin Ahluwalia, manager, Technology Marketing, Ericsson, said: "Thiskind of fun-n-frolic atmosphere in business hours is extremelydisappointing. It appears that organisers have failed to maintain thedecorum of the event." He added: "This is supposed to be a business fairwhere companies can look for partners and communicate business plans. Butwith the noise and the crowd all around, the entire effort of participatingin the fair is going waste." Ericsson had spent close to Rs 50 lakh inputting things together for the IIW, and now it's asking for a refund of therental which cost them Rs 14.5 lakh. Says Mr Ahluwalia, quite categorically:

"We are not planning to come back next year." Dishnet DSL, anotherparticipant at the IIW, was equally unhappy. Said an official: "According toregulations, the wall should measure 5 ft, but the stall next to us has awall measuring 8 ft." He added: "The higher wall at the next stall lowersthe image of our stall." And like the other affected parties, Dishnet toowouldn't like to return to the fair if it's not organised in a better way.

"After all, we had made a substantial investment for the fair in terms ofrenting out the space, flying executives in from various regions, makingarrangements for their stay and the time put in to prepare for the IIW."

While all these participants said that organisers didn't do anything toimprove things for them despite several complaints, The FinancialExpress could not contact any of the organisers for their comments.

According to Media2India.net sources at the IIW, the organisers had left thevenue on the last day of the fair by 4 p.m. However, earlier in the day, MrMichael Westcott, managing director, Asia-Pacific, Penton (associateorganisers for the IIW), told FE that next year the focus would not be onthe volume of visitors. "It shouldn't be like a circus," he said. Also, IIW2001 is likely to increase the cost of ticket-from the current Rs 200 forbusiness hours-to restrict non-serious visitors from coming to the fair, MrWestcott said. He also added that next year, he said that stalls would begrouped in such a way that B2B and B2C companies are clustered separately.

And, access to the B2B stalls would be open to only serious businesses.Perhaps, that might lure the likes of Ericsson, Dishnet and India Bulls backto India Internet World.