First day of the first of two conferences brings me to San Jose. Today was load-in and it went well, but those are always long days. At every show I’ve worked there’s folks who show up late or not at all leaving their booth space noticeably empty. What if the empty booth was on purpose…

With sorting the pallets of booth equipment, unpacking, and setting everything up I didn’t notice the empty booth in the back corner of the expo floor until we were nearly done. Among the bright booths with multiple flashy screens, the bare table and empty ten-by-ten stood out like a missing tooth.

A little later I saw a tall man in a beautifully tailored suit place a flower on the table before turning and walking away.

One of the men from the next booth over saw me watching the man place the flower and offered in a conspiratorial tone, “It’s still touching, isn’t it?”

I looked at him and shook my head. “This is my first time working the OSC. Is what touching?”

“That’s Jacob Childs, chairman of the Open Systems Collective Foundation that puts on this show – he’s giving the keynote in a few hours.”

“Okay… so what’s with the flower?”

“That booth is always left empty. It’s a tribute to Harlan Chu.”

“Who?”

“This really is your first time at the show!”

“I’ve only been with this company for a few months…” I admitted.

“Harlan Chu started at a Bay Area hardware startup in the early aughts as a thermal engineer. Eventually he started his own company, Chu Systems. He had some radical ideas for cooling that he patented and tried to get investors in the early days of the show. In 2013 he had a heart attack in his hotel room the night before the conference opened – didn’t get a chance to set his booth up.”

“That’s terrible,” I said.

“It is. But a couple years later the startup he had left re-evaluated his patent and ended up incorporating the tech – it’s pretty much the de facto cooling solution used by all the major data center players. They leave his booth empty like that to honor his memory.”

“That’s really sweet,” I smiled.

My new friend nodded. “You don’t see that kind of tribute around here these days. That booth space is worth a small fortune, but his memory is worth more…”

Just at that moment the light wall on the far side of our booth started to list precariously and I hurried over to hold it while one of the guys stabilized it, abruptly ending the conversation. After that, we stowed our pallets and empty crates and finished tending to the gremlins that naturally infect any demonstrations. Before I knew it, we made our way to the main room for the keynote and then the mixer afterwards with snacks and beverages.

“Did we turn the displays off?” my boss asked.

“I don’t know – want me to check?”

“Do you mind?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll be right back,” I said as I started back to the other side of the massive conference center.

Earlier in the day, security checked badges to make sure we were signed up as exhibitors, but now the hall was deserted. Entering the cavernous expo hall with only the dim emergency lights casting a low pall on the dark booths, I made my way through the empty aisles. The already muted sound of the easy jazz in the mixer faded to nothing as I moved deeper into the hall.

Finally I reached our booth and I could see the giant panel that took up the entire west side of our booth glowing a dim black – we’d left it on. I unplugged the panel and started back.

“I was wondering if anyone was going to notice that was left on,” came a scratchy voice that caused me to jump.

“Sorry?” I said turning towards the voice.

“The screens. I was hoping someone would remember to turn them off,” he said.

I turned and saw an older man with salt and pepper hair sitting behind the table with a navy blue banner that read “Chu Systems” in white lettering. His short-sleeve button-down shirt was carelessly wrinkled, and his hands adjusted the blocky assembly of heat tubes and circuit boards on the table.

My blood froze as I stuttered, “It’s… It’s you…”

“Yeah, I’m here after hours,” he waved a hand in dismissal. “I got a late start this morning, so I need to make up time. Jake can come yell at me if he wants.”

Jake… Jacob Childs… head of the foundation. “I… I…”

He looked up at me and grinned an enigmatic smile. “Hey, how about we keep this between us?” He asked with a wink.

I could only nod.

“You should get back to the mixer, shouldn’t you?”

My feet got the idea and started along the aisle.

“See you tomorrow!” I heard behind me as my halting steps turned into a sprint.

I didn’t stop until I reached the still-crowded mixer. My boss asked, “We left them on, didn’t we?”

I just nodded.

“You okay?”

“Do you ever get that feeling you’ve met someone you couldn’t possibly have met?”

He just looked at me quizzically.

The next day before the show opened, I put a flower on the empty table.