Next week I'll be heading out to InfoComm in Las Vegas.  I'll be looking around to sample the newest and most interesting technologies that are available.

It's a massive show, filling most of the Las Vegas Convention Center, so I plan to focus as much as I can on the practical items that will likely be available from vendors to use.  Some of the cutting edge stuff takes a bit longer to filter down to the rental market.  So it doesn't make a lot of sense to look at a bunch of cool toys that aren't available for rental yet or have a high cost that eliminates all but a small segment of the market.  

As always, the focus is to find cost effective ideas that can fit into a planners strategic objectives without breaking the bank.

I'll plan to bring back a full report after the show.

In the meantime, have any of you seen any good and cost effective ideas from your AV vendors?
Please share them in the comments!

It's a bit intimidating thinking about starting a new blog or podcast.  

It's taking the first step on a new journey, and journeys can be a mixed blessing.  They can be filled with danger and unexpected events, or they can be filled with discovery and wonder.  You never know exactly where the road will take you.

I've spent many years doing a podcast already, but that has been done as a group effort; and as with anything involving multiple voices and opinions, there are always a few compromises along the way.  I've also spent a number of years working on a specific type of internet service business within the meetings industry.  A new type of business that received terrific buzz and comments, and yet somehow didn't resonate in the way that we've expected.  And as time passes on that journey, it's been a struggle to take that company into the places that we envisioned it going to help planners and vendors.

So, while I remain involved in both of those endeavors; this blog and podcast (and ultimately this entire website) is intended as a way for me to share my voice and my specific goals with an audience who are interested and willing to listen.  It may be one, or it may be one thousand, only time will tell.  It's also a way to see if working with smaller group of planners on a more direct and personal level is the alchemy needed to advance the ideas behind my previous work.  (But, that's a topic for a future post/podcast.)

In the end, I feel that the best conversations are personal involving one or multiple commentators, and not done as some sort of lecture without any interaction back.  So I hope that if you're reading this you'll always speak up and engage in a real conversation with me as this site grows and evolves.  

Here's a few questions to get us started:
What technology/meetings industry topics do you want to discuss?
What guests would you like to hear from?
How can we make this a place that is useful, informative and helpful?

Let me know what you think, and lets begin a journey together and see where the road leads.