Posted by
advertolog at Friday ~ July 07, 2007
to SEO Comments:0
By Amy Armitage
Sheesh I’m tired! Wednesday night I finally arrived home from with loads of swag and about 200 business cards! This year it was held in Chicago and for me it was the BEST one yet!
We arrived on Sunday night and Tiara hit the hay because she was too tired after spending all weekend partying? .. umm reading Harry Potter? (now that’s just embarrassing lol) .. Anyhow, after I settled in an unpacked my massive suitcase I met up with Jeff Cohen from , his beautiful gal Jackie and adorable daughter Phoebe and we dined at . During our meal I told them the story of giving away my hubby’s chicken to a homeless guy (on one of our first dates actually), so with that we bagged up the left over lobster, steaks and cheesecake and went on a mission to find a hungry soul on the streets of Chicago. After declined my offer of yummy free food (he really was at HostingCon!), a lovely old fella was delighted to accept our culinary gift. On the trek back to The W Hotel, we met a New Zealand rugby player who tackled me on the sidewalk and a 21 year old horse named Caruso.
On Monday morning after a night spent tossing and turning from the LOUD air conditioner I took my tired ass eyes over to the Navy Pier and listened to the dry comedic tones of and the marketing and SEO tips of the socially talented . Neil only said crap ‘bout 3 times and cussed maybe twice. He really behaved himself. I got a lot out of that session as you can see from all of the links in this blog post to our competitors (invisible .. I hope) .. heh .. wha? A girl’s gotta try right?
Next session was about and the challenges most hosts are experiencing with Data Center power, costs, cooling etc. It was moderated by (she’s totally gorgeous btw). The panel included CTO , COO and Director of Marketing .
I saw from and he muttered something ‘bout a basketball game but he was too tall and I couldn’t hear him properly ;)
I had a lovely dinner with the team from on Monday night along with around 30 invited guests including (Robert & William), Ben from (he is the NICEST guy), Ben from , Justin from and my all time favorite jet setting playboys Brian and Greg from ! They are such a blast to spend time with.
Our table was the loudest one of course.. lol.. Mindy’s hubby Todd was quizzing me on Australian slang and the more we drank the louder the laughter.
So what is root really? ;)
(my all time favorite web hosting mag) were there handing out EXTRA LARGE bright orange t-shirts. Keith tried to convince me I could look professional and wear my shirt as a dress the next day to the exhibit hall… ummm.. no… With this accent it’s hard enuff to be taken seriously.
Got to catch up with the amazing minds of (Frank and Hartland) and Hartland actually said EH! to me so I was stoked on that.
Dave and Jamie from took me for beer on the pier on Tuesday afternoon (couldn’t get them to say eh unfortunately).
Aaron and Shane from [their servers aren’t as fast as ;)] were so lovely and we attended their spectacular cruise on Tuesday night. Aaron’s a super snappy dresser too. Sorry we didn’t make it to Rush Street but.. welp.. I’m an old gal and my feet hurt A LOT from wearing stupid girl shoes all day.
Here are some happy snappys:
Amy & Mindy
Neil, Brian & Greg (Best Group on the Web)
Aaron (FastServers), Mindy & Todd
Ben (TechPad) & Amy
Amy & Brian (Best Guy on the Web)
Derek (Strike a Pose) from Techpad
Ben (HostNine)
Eddie (Globat) & Amy
The TechPad Agency
Justin (StartLogic) & Amy
Amy & Keith (Ping!Zine)
Keith from Ping!Zine
Neil Patel
Neil & Amy
Amy & Greg aka Popeye (BOTW)
Neil (again)
Justin & Kyle
Amy & Ben (ResellerGuide)
Mindy & Tiara (sea sick)
Michael Low (WebhostingStuff) & Amy
Biggest Regret - (apart from not being able to play with iPhone longer) was the people I was unable to catch up with, François from (sooooooooo disappointed), Mark from and Richard Guzzo (fellow Aussie) from .
Cooooolest Giveaway - won the prize for their board game all about servers called ServerMania.
Most Annoying Stupid Drunk Industry Person – Some dufus named Scott who I would NEVER do business with.
Fastest Talker – Eddie Bauer from (that’s saying something considering I was there)
MOST Seasick – Tiara (she got friendly with the toilet bowl)
Best Dog Chit Chat – Justin Reynolds from StartLogic
BEST Couple – Mindy and Todd!
Awkward Moment – I complained to about the idiot whose alarm went off early Tuesday morning and woke me up. Turns out it was his alarm and he was staying in the room next door to mine (oopsy).
Classic Session Moment – When Derek from posed the question “”
Most Genuine Person – That would be a toss up between Michael Low from and Ben from . Both absolutely fantastic guys!
It’s not often you can hang out with like minded geeks who don’t ask you what web hosting is when you tell them what you do for a living. I met some fantastic people at including David from (hi David!), Mario from , , Brett from , Douglas Hanna from and stacks more!
It was a pleasure to be in your company and to meet you all :D
