July 27, 2007 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- The largest Web hosting conference and tradeshow HostingCon 2007 (hostingcon.com/2007) took place this week at the scenic Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois, drawing in a record-attendance of 1,200 hosted services industry professionals.
Frank Spaulding, managing director of HostingCon, says he and the rest of the HostingCon team organizers made a significant effort to improve the line of communication with conference attendees and exhibitors, ensuring that everyone was informed of any changing details.
Perhaps the biggest change from last year's conference was the location, moving the show from Las Vegas' The Mirage to the more conservative, business-friendly Navy Pier in Chicago.
"A lot of people said that it was difficult to do the networking thing, to get people to talk to them, because [at] the end of the day people were ready to take off and go gambling or go hit this show... there were a lot of distractions," says Spaulding.
And as the hosting industry continues to evolve with the adoption of new technological innovations as well as shifting industry trends, creating new opportunities for companies and customers alike, this year's HostingCon explored the theme, 'Where is the industry going?'
"We got together in February with several companies - TechPad, Microsoft, as well as a few other select people," says Spaulding. "One of the things we did is had an advisory meeting where we talked about where the industry is going, what do we see, what do we hear and what we can do to help deliver more information about this."
Setting this thematic tone early on in the conference, former MySpace CEO Richard Rosenblatt delivered a brief, albeit forward-thinking opening keynote entitled, "Next Generation Web: What Lies Ahead for Hosting".
In the presentation, the CEO and chairman of Demand Media encouraged the capacity crowd to rethink their approach to how they market hosting solutions to businesses and individuals.
Using his ChannelMe.tv venture as a focal example, Rosenblatt argued that Web hosts should sell the overall experience of hosted solutions instead of the more technical concept of hosting itself.
The other two keynotes analyzed the trends in the industry, what successful providers are doing to succeed and next generation technologies making an impact on hosted services. Meanwhile, the conference sessions provided attendees with knowledge in the areas of marketing, growing their business, related technologies and leader case studies.
Such notable sessions included TechPad Agency chief marketing officer Derek Vaughan's "The Future of Web Hosting Marketing", the Isabel Wang-moderated presentation, "Green Hosting: Hope or Hype?", and Tier1 Research senior analyst Philbert Shih's "Marketing Web Hosting Services in a Rapidly Transforming Market."
This year, the exhibit hall was scaled down from three to two days, and featured 85 vendors offering demonstrations and activities, including Microsoft, Hostopia, Ensim, SWsoft, Sedo, The Planet, Tucows, FastServers.Net and GeoTrust.
Always a conference favorite, the evening networking events -- including an opening day reception, a FastServers.Net/TopHosts' boat cruise, a RatePoint, AmbironTrustWave and the WHIR's VIP bowling party, a Microsoft-sponsored reception and a rooftop barbecue -- gave vendors and attendees a chance to kick back and talk a little shop.
With a considerable increase in attendance over last year's event, as well as positive feedback from vendors and attendees alike, Spaulding seems confident that HostingCon 2008 will be even better when it returns next July to Chicago's Navy Pier.
