[DEMO Mob. Photo by Shel. Additional DEMO photos available here.]
In the years that I reviewed conferences for Conferenza, I always used the opening night reception to gauge the mood of attendees, and almost invariably that gave me a sense of what we would be in for at the conference.
If last night's DEMO reception is any indicator, we are in for one Hell of a high energy time. Originally planned for a casual outdoor industry schmooze, the threat of rain over the Palm Spring Desert drove 600 people into the overly intimate JW Marriott lobby lounge where we rubbed elbows at extremely close range and shouted greetings toward each other. Remnants of the party were still going on when I crawled off to be after midnight, about five hours ago.
What dominates this conference are the start up teams, 67 of them, who have invested a good deal of money and time to be here. They thought they were here to meet the media, investors and big company dealmakers. At last night's reception, they found each other. They chatted and realized they were not alone in the extraordinary effort that goes in to succeeding at this conference.
As I went for an early morning Vente coffee from Starbucks, the lobby was sparsely populated with young people typing on laptops, chatting intensely. Many of them will present this morning. They will stand on the dais in front of 700 people from all over the world. Several of us bloggers will report to the world not in attendance as these companies present. A few stars will be born here.
Other will go back home, take a couple of days off to relax and reintroduce themselves to spouses and have painful meetings of how their companies need to adjust course. Most all of these companies will be changed after havingg had their first shakeouts at this conference.
Gawd, I love this show.
