The second day of the conference was a little better of an experience. Maybe it was a change in my realization of the type of conference this was going to be and the audience that is here.
It’s primarily audience (from what I can tell) is, a lot of sales people, managers and CEOs. Not necessarily the everyday sysadmins and developers. I could be completely wrong about this but that’s what I’ve noticed so far. The other group of people are just small 1-3 man teams that are just getting into web hosting but don’t necessarily have a lot of business or web experience outside of servers.
One thing the conference has made me realize is how important it is for me to take my own advice. I spend so much of my time working on other people’s brands and projects to make them successful and almost no time doing the same thing for myself. Why is that? Well, it’s hard to look at yourself in the mirror and it’s even harder to work on non-billable work.
Whether the conference had this agenda or not - I need to figure out how to have the team do more of the billable work and I need to focus more on the business and not only growing the brand but being more articulate on what we can do and making sure that falls inline with the business objectives of the people we support. Whether that be through hosting or consulting.
Another thing I think the conference has been doing a good job at is telling people to think about hosting outside of just “web” hosting. You can host images, you can host videos, you can host company collaboration. There’s quite a bit to explore in this area. This is also where applications are being either developed or people are partnering with other software vendors. For example, hosting images is Flickr’s job. Are they a hosting company? Quite possibly. What about video (YouTube) or company collaboration (Microsoft Exchange, Zimbra, Google Docs, etc…). Are these companies really just hosting companies specializing in hosting specific data?
It wasn’t the part of the original focus for Eventable to be a place to host your event but maybe it is? Or maybe we partner with other people like Upcoming.org or Eventful to fulfill our overall service or offering. Something interesting to think about and how we can provide virtual real estate for people and companies in niche areas.
posted on July 25, 2007| 2:11 PM EST
For the past few days of going in and out of my hotel room, I’ve always wondered and been a bit annoyed by the fact my door doesn’t shut when I leave. Each time, I had to put my key into the door which would then unlock the door so I could turn the handle and proceed to close the door.
I did this for a few days thinking it was just some oversight on some door makers part but then yesterday it hit me. They weren’t stupid, they were ingenious. You see, what they were doing was making sure I had my key before I left the room.
If I had my key, I’d be able to place it within the door key pad and proceed to close and lock the door. If I didn’t have my key, I was able to get right back into my room and figure out where I left it. More than likely in my wallet which is something else I would have really needed if I was heading out for the day.
So brilliant idea W Hotels.
posted on | 11:00 AM EST
Overall, my first day of Hostingcon has been a somewhat of a disappointing experience. Each of the sessions I attended seemed behind the times and talked about solutions that many people should already know quite a bit about.
For me - reading different magazines like Business 2.0 and HBR, along with keeping track of various blogs have told me way more about the where the industry is going and what people want, than what was being announced from panel experts today.
All this being said, there are some extremely intelligent people here. People that do understand where the market is going and have thought far beyond the shared hosting arena. These are people that also run a majority of the companies that many of us envy.
What’s weird is the divide (it seems) is pretty dramatic from people in the know and people just starting to think beyond shared hosting. After a few of sessions that announced old world news (compared to what I’ve heard a few years ago at sxsw), I’d hear various people chattering and saying things like, “Wow, just think of the potential” or “Yea, he (the speaker) is right, we should be doing that”. One presenter even debated on recommending hosting companies to blog as it could be a bit risky.
The day was not all lost, Richard Rosenblatt (guy who made MySpace) did a brief talk called “Next Generation Web: What Lies Ahead for Hosting” that was pretty forward thinking. Carson Daily was there as well for a few minutes as he’s an investor in Rosenblatt’s new venture and helping lead up the entertainment portion.
Maybe I just went to the wrong sessions but I’m hopeful for tomorrow.
posted on July 24, 2007| 11:04 AM EST
Well, I just checked into the W Hotel on Lakeshore St. (across from Navy Pier) and getting ready to attend the Hostingcon conference tomorrow.
The W Hotel is amazing and way more than I realized from their website. Our room overlooks Lake Michigan and has an energetic style to the whole environment that gives you the feeling that you buy and sell people by day and party at exclusive celebrity parties by night.
Jodi and Jessica decided to come along for the night and were planning on leaving the next morning but after checking in - it looks like I may have the family stick around for the whole time.
We’re now off to grab some food and hang out in the city.
posted on July 22, 2007| 6:50 PM EST
The Geeks event is coming up next week Tuesday and after talking with a few people, we decided to have it at the new Elevator Up offices and then walk over to Pizza Hut for some fine dining.
So head over for a small social, a little bit of FREE beer (provided by the Elevator Up team) and possibly a bit of TRON playing on a wall.
Date: Tuesday, July 17, 2008
Time: 5:30pm (7pm at Pizza Hut)
Place: Elevator Up offices (201 W Washington Ave, Zeeland, MI 49464, USA)
posted on July 13, 2007| 10:18 AM EST
