My impressions of VON Day One on Monday are rather positive.
First the event has never looked better as the new signs and banners are outstanding. The colors are bright and vibrant and the overall feel is rather warming.
I was also happy to see more "conversation" areas set up in the hallway. What's more there is a lot more "social" activity woven around the conference this year.
The press room has been moved into the show floor area, and looks like a goldfish bowl. I like the concept but it needs a roof top to afford it sound protection. I'm concerned that podcasters seeking to hold interviews there with a mic and digital recorder my have to compete with the din from the trade show floor which I expect to be louder than ever.
The panels at the pre-con on policy pulled together by pal Jonathan Askin rocked. I was on a panel with a few legal/policy folks with FCC ties and the moderator did an excellent job, but suffered from trying to stay on his own agenda vs. moving with the flow of what was being said by the panel members. Skype's Chris Libertelli and I seemed to be in full agreement on what was needed and what was rewarding was the number of people who came up to me after the panel to point out they read VoIPWatch and some even listen to KenRadio...That's a rush.
By the way, the bandwidth and WiFi is awesome. Strix Networks access points were easy to hop on to even with the Nokia N61. Add in Truphone and VoIP at VON rocks!
Jeff Pulver seems to be in great shape, though rather tired from his almost non-stop travel.
Twitter pal Chris Brogan was around snapping photos...being almost everywhere.
Om Malik was on the scene and the GigaOm team was out in force as Liz Gaines and Paul Kapustka.
Ran in to Rich Tehrani at the Arcadia Bar after earlier seeing ZD Net's Russell Shaw and Skype Journal's Phil Wolff.
The Fring people are out in force as is Truphone. It's great to see the newcomers supporting VON.
I ran into Dina Kaplan of Blp.....looking fine as always. Same with longtime Streaming Media Queen Peggy Miles. Met ZDNet Legal Blogger Denise Howell... and then bumped into Electronic Frontier Foundation's Brad Templeton was there as w
Another observation..Bloggers Outnumbered Media on Day One!
More tomorrow.
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