I really like going to Austin. It's one of the nations emerging towns. Great music scene. A food and coffee culture that comes from being a cross between the state capital, a college town a booming tech mecca. As a matter of fact if I wasn't living in San Diego, Austin would make it on my short list, along with Boulder, CO and Portland as places to live. But for a tech event like IT Expo--well, let's just say that the locals were not really out in force. Sure a few startups like Shango were there, and an entrant into the very excellent Startup Camp was from there, but I didn't see the "LOCALS."
And locals are one of the reasons why TMC liked Austin so much. I also didn't run into that many NEW folks from Dallas or Houston either, and given technology is in both markets in different ways, but Telecom Alley is just an hour flight from Dallas (or less) one would think the crowd would come on down Austin way.
And that's a shame because Austin has a growing, modern hotel scene, great food, nice people and a wonderfully new airport. I'm actually looking forward to next year's event as I got so much done in what was one of the best networking IT Expo's ever.
Hats off to Rich, Dave, Michael, Tom and all the TMCers..you guys put on a great show, as did Larry Lisser with Startup Camp...I just wish the Austinites would have turned our and appreciated it more.
I completely agree Andy.
I work for a local communications and IT services company headquartered in Austin, DoubleHorn Communications. I enjoyed the breadth of solutions and providers that attended the ITExpo.
It continues to amaze me that the last Miami ITExpo and this one were so different, yet each covered so many rich and growing topics.
It was great to meet the TMC staff and participate in the event. As Austin continues to grow both as a center for Communications and IT, I believe the event will begin to attract a full spectrum of new attendees.
Thanks again from all of us in Austin!
Posted by: Robert Erickson | October 10, 2012 at 09:38 AM