HostingCon 2007 Draws Biggest Crowd Yet - Other Highlights
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Two of the best-attended events were the Business Networking Cruise hosted by TopHosts.com and FastServers.Net. That happened Tuesday, and went from 6 PM to 9 PM. The event featured an open bar and barbecue, plus plenty of the relaxed networking for which HostingCon is rapidly becoming known.
The conference closed with a rooftop barbecue on Wednesday that went from 5:30 PM to 9 PM, and finished off with an impressive fireworks display. It included drinks and music, and was sponsored by CRE Loaded.
Vendors on the conference floor were doing giveaways like it was 1999 all over again. Multiple vendors were giving away iPod Nanos; one was even holding daily drawings for an iPod Nano for attendees that filled out a short survey. There were Apple iPhones, a mountain bike, at least one Dell notebook, Nintendo Wiis, American Express gift certificates, skateboards, a 50” plasma HDTV, and more. Someone even got a picture of the eNom booth with a mini Cooper and a sign on it that seemed to indicate it would be given away, but this was not mentioned on the exhibitor giveaway list. There were also the usual T-shirts, baseball caps, pens, and stress balls to be given away.
Many vendors wisely opted to give away prizes that were directly related to their business. Coyote Point Systems gave away one year of “a high availability, geo load-balanced Hosted Solution, complete with Coyote Point Load Balancers & servers in 2 data centers” which is normally valued at more than $25,000. DemoWolf gave away a custom flash-based presentation for the winner’s business (up to $4,000 value). Easy Antispam gave away three-month free trials of their managed antispam service, in addition to other prizes (a free year of service and iPod Shuffles, among others). IntruGuard Devices gave out free guides and consultations on protection from DDoS attacks. LSI Server Solutions held a drawing for a fully configured server valued at over $900. Super Micro Computer held a drawing for a 4 GB USB drive every 90 minutes.
Next year’s HostingCon will be held at the Navy Pier again, July 28 through 30. HostingCon 2008 will benefit from this year’s experiences; in particular, Roberts plans to review how the HostingCon Connect tools worked to see where they can be improved. No doubt there will also be some very pleasant surprises in store. If you’re a web host or cater to web hosts, you won’t want to miss it.
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