My view is that attendees would go to these plus the LA Modernism show if they are spread out during the year, happy that they have so much opportunity to “get their design on”.

They are different shows, even with the, as you pointed out, about six exhibitors that were at both. That’s six out of about a hundred or so exhibitor. So if you went only to Dwell you missed out those.

If there were spaced out then you could have to both.

I know people on both sides and I am sure you do too, so I’m not rooting for one to win out over the other but rather for them both to succeed. It seems that if they both win we all do.

As Land+Living said, like any good parent we love them both equally just in different ways. All is not yet lost. lets just hope they are able to solve this before one hits the other on the head with an elegantly designed bicyle lock sending him to the hospital.

It seems CA Boom made a big mistake picking a fight with dwell. CA Boom 2009 was scheduled to be held in March and was promoted that way for almost a year. Six weeks before the scheduled dates CA Boom was canceled and there was a week or more of silence from the show producer…then he announced new dates for CA Boom on the same weekend as dwell in June. This was no accident – he was picking a fight.

Dwell easily won the contest with huge crowds, far better exhibits (including an incredible landscaped garden with full scale homes) , sold out home tours and special events. I saw several TV shows filming at the Dwell event. There was so much to see it was ridiculous.

If you want the most objective opinion as to which show was better, ask the exhibitors who were at both shows (there were about 5 or 6 of them). One of them told me “CA Boom is a disaster and we will never exhibit there again” – don’t take my word for it, check with the exhibitors directly. They will tell you there was simply no comparison. Compared to the dwell show, CA Boom looked like a swap meet in a parking lot. Also ask some credentialed press who went to both shows.

Shame the design community was forced to choose between these events on the same weekend. Professional groups such as AIA and ASID chose to be at Dwell and not CA Boom. So did most of the major exhibitors. Attendee numbers for Dwell were much higher. The article above says “An exhibitor I spoke to at CA Boom said there was low trade attendance (possibly due to the recession.)” The recession was not the problem. All of the design trade was at the Dwell event. I went on Trade day Friday and it was PACKED with people. Ask ANY Dwell exhibitor. It was crowded with trade attendees.

The quality of CA Boom has really diminished. Taking on a high quality show like dwell made CA Boom look even worse than before. What a silly thing to do.