According to organizers, more than 500 attendees traveled from across Germany, nearby European countries and as far away as North America and even China to attend the event, organized by German Web hosting provider Intergenia (intergenia.de).

The event packed a single day with 19 informational sessions and workshops, held around the facilities of the Phantasia Land theme park, a few days prior to its opening for the season.

Event organizer and Intergenia president of marketing and sales Thomas Strohe said he set out to foster more of a sense of community among European Web hosting providers, an aspect of the business he feels could stand to improve.

A notably well-organized and well-executed affair, WebhostingDay offered presentations mostly in German, with several - from SWsoft CEO Serguei Beloussov and Microsoft US shared hosting market development director John Zanni - delivered in English. The mostly-German program of the event's "main.FORUM" was supplemented with English and German translations made available by wireless headsets.

The event's other main.FORUM sessions included an introduction by conference organizer and Intergenia CEO Thomas Strohe, as well as presentations from T-Online senior general manager for hosting and business services Hans-Artur Panse, InterXion Deutschland CEO and NIFIS president Peter Knapp, Peppercorn president and Raritan senior director of product management Dr. Christian Paetz and Intergenia CTO Andreas Niehaus, all moderated by University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein Sieg professor Dr. Jens Boecker.

The event's 12 work.SHOP sessions included more interactive presentations on such topics as improving bandwidth cost for Web hosting, the development of the .eu domain and a security session that included a hacking demonstration.

Informational sessions and relaxed networking events were the focus of the conference, with a limited show floor style meeting space, but considerable effort put into entertainment and a show-closing dinner and party.

The unique venue afforded the opportunity for some very unusual diversion from business matters, as presentations were punctuated by acrobatic performances, and theme park rides were opened up for brief periods.

At the event's conclusion, Strohe said he had received nothing but positive feedback, and was certain he would be planning another event for next year.

While the company was responsible for organizing the event, Intergenia was notably absent from the spotlight for most of WebhostingDay. Strohe said he made a conscious effort to avoid promoting the company and putting himself on stage, preferring to keep the event focused on the Web hosting community.

"It was very important to me," he says, "to not promote Intergenia."