HostingCon 2009 First Look

The time for HostingCon 2009 has finally arrived. I arrived last evening (Saturday) to get a jump start on things and get oriented. This year's event is being held in the Gaylord Hotel just outside Washington, D.C. The first day here I took a short 20 minute shuttle ride to the nation's Capitol then viewed the Smithsonian Institute and Washington's popular downtown monuments. It was an easy ride back to the Gaylord. It is a large hotel with a huge atrium housing shops and restaurants of various descriptions.

In the evening on Saturday I bumped into my first fellow attendees. I first met my friends from UK website hosting company 34SP.com - who had traveled to Washington, D.C. from the United Kingdom. We decided to go to a local piano bar for some fun. It was there that we bumped into friends from SpamExperts - again they had traveled from overseas to attend. The piano bar was great fun, but it turns out that it is only open during the weekends - so see it tonight if you're in town, or miss it.

Today I had a leisurely morning walking a bit around town and seeing the local color. There is a small harbor directly adjacent to the hotel which affords a water service to a few other ports across the Potomac river. I have not yet had the opportunity to venture onto the river yet, but I'm certain I will.

A few hours ago I made my way to the registration desk on the 2nd floor. Registering was very easy - at the time I showed up it took, seriously 2 minutes. There is of course a ''goodie bag'' with the registration that I haven't looked into yet. I was too busy reviewing the program and selecting the various educational sessions that I would be attending. I did run into Sharon Koifman, who is the president of a consulting company for IT outsourcing and business developer called Empire Consultant. We chatted for a few minutes and caught up. I'll be attending his talk on how to ''Double Your Revenue without Getting One New Customer'' at 9:00 on Day 1 of the conference.

HostingCon will be held over the next few days. The show schedule calls for speakers and exhibits beginning on Monday August 10, 2009 through Wednesday August 12, 2009. According to show organizers there are currently over 1,200 attendees registered this year - a 10 percent increase over last year. I hope to see you there.

It is my understanding that there will be an informal gathering this evening moving around the local bars. I'm headed out now to see what everyone is up to. You can check the official HostingCon website for updates at: www.hostingcon.com.