Vegas: New Media Expo #NMX

Calling all bloggers, podcasters & citizen journalist: This is the show for us! Content! Content! Content! is queen er king for those who want to have a voice to the global community. From foodies & fashionistas to political junkies and Live from the scene, they all gather to learn what is new! hot! now! in the world of media.


Did I mention there were parties?

CES2013: ATT DEV Summit 2013

Live from the show floor: Many other shows take advantage of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) being in Vegas. Among those are New Media Expo, a conference for bloggers, podcasters, citizen journalists aka everyone on twitter. ATT Developers Conference that includes a 24 hour hackathon – and that doesn’t mean for 24 hours they are going to hack all of the wifi in Vegas although I am pretty sure they can. No a hackathon is like Comic Con for those who are even geekier to develop Aps to be used on the ATT platform which only means every other platform is going to have them as well. Great prizes though. Almost makes me wish I’d paid attention in science class.

Welcome to ATT DevCon

The Hackathon looks like a porn convention or Comic Con session

The Hackathon looks like a porn convention or Comic Con session

Rear of the room for the 24 hour hackathon

Rear of the room for the 24 hour hackathon

My seat mates modeling their Necomini Brain Wave ears

My seat mates modeling their Necomini Brain Wave ears

Vegas: EMC World 2012

Transform! was the name of their event right before Memorial Day and during the annual ReCon show. Taking over the Venetian, EMC really did Transform this into a trade show & conference like no other. From the giant Optimist Prime to the giant bean bags in some of the sessions, the entire event was like being transported from Venice to Pandora. It was like walking in a giant blue sea of humanity-no Pandorians were harmed in the creation of this world. The best and most secret session was the Area 51, so named after the site that sits about 50 miles from the Las Vegas strip where tests on A.L.F.s were supposedly conducted. No press and no cameras. Yes I am still wondering as even my BCW glare couldn’t get them to let me in. For a few moments on the trade floor I thought I’d wandered in to a Comic Con in the desert complete with Storm Troopers & Darth Vader. It was, in the almost 8 years I’ve been tracking trade shows, one of the best shows I’ve ever been to and that is saying a Pandorian mouthful.

Omaha: Infotec

Apr. 17-18, 2012. Okay, no-one gets a prize for guessing that Infotec stands for Information Technology.  Sessions covered such topical matters as mobile computing, business process management, data security, cloud-computing, infrastructure and project management.  Biggest demand was for BYOD, or the “Bring Your Own Device” session. The 2012 Technology Celebration Banquet and Awards honored recipients recognized for their outstanding contributions to the region’s thriving and robust information technology landscape. Selection was based on the nominees’ contributions, either through sustained performance or a special notable achievement, to the region’s worldwide reputation for excellence and innovation in information technology.  Oh no, who’s cellphone just interrupted the awards ceremony with a “La Cucaracha” ringtone?

Las Vegas: HDI (World Conference of IT Service and Technical Support)

HDI is the Annual World Conference for IT Service and Technical Support. This service and technical support conference addresses the IT needs of a company’s entire team — from seasoned directors to front-line analysts — and provides insight into how formal procedures, processes, and industry tools can improve service and support performance. A keynote on “How to Win an Unfair Fight” asked “How do you get people to do what you want them to do without looking like a jerk (or a psychopath)? How do you learn how to handle the difficult people you encounter along the way without losing your sanity?” This is need-to-know stuff, you IT people. Okay, okay… Whaddya mean, the screen is still black? Did you try plugging the darn thing in?

Las Vegas: ISC West (International Security Conference)

Once you see all those black-and-yellow keyhole logos scattered around the convention center, you know you’re at a Security Industry event. ISC West is the International Security Conference and Exposition, and they’re there to remind you that you have plenty of stuff you want locked away and kept safe. There was much to learn about how to do that. There was a Security Cloud Computing panel, a discussion about how physical security applications can reduce cost and create value by leveraging the internet Cloud. Other panels explored novel techniques like video analytics, biometric technology and Personal Emergency Response Systems. Feeling secure now? You earned some out-of-town fun, like the scenic motorcycle and sports-car ride through the Valley of Fire and Hoover Dam area, raising funds for volunteer groups and publicly paid first-responders who take courses on safety-related issues. Stay safe, now, y’hear?

Austin: NACHA (Electronic Payments Association)

If you were on a TV quiz show and had to say what NACHA was, you’d guess perhaps a Russian exotic dancer? Or maybe the Miss Tex-Mex Snackfood Queen? How wrong you would be. NACHA is about Payments, and is in fact the Electronic Payments Association. The folks you’d be rubbing up against at the show would be Payments Executives, Officers, Managers, Consultants, Analysts, AAPs, CTPs, and professionals with responsibilities in things like fraud detection, risk management, payment processing, treasury and cash management, card services and the like. What would a NACHA hot topic look like? Well, “From payments convergence and next-generation solutions to P2P and alternative payments” was the topic that was on everyone’s lips, driving industry dialogue. Plus of course “Corporate Account Takeover – Impacts, Detection & Prevention”. And no, sorry, we do not cash personal checks…