Message Strategies: Making Routine Requests [LO-2]

The vast Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the premier promotional event in the electronics industry. More than 150,000 industry insiders from all over the world come to see the exciting new products on display from 3,000 companies—everything from video game gadgets to Internet-enabled refrigerators with built-in computer screens.6 You’ve just stumbled on a video game controller that has a built-in webcam to allow networked gamers to see and hear each other while they play. Your company also makes game controllers, and you’re worried that your customers will flock to this new controller-cam. You need to know how much “buzz” is circulating around the show: Have people seen it? What are they saying about it? Are they excited about it?

Your task: Compose a text message to your colleagues at the show, alerting them to the new controller-cam and asking them to listen for any buzz that it might be generating among the attendees at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the several surrounding hotels where the show takes place. Your text messaging service limits messages to 160 characters, including spaces and punctuation, so keep your message within that limit.