Tuesday, March 09, 1999

Viant-ly dining


It was a comfortable group in a great Belgium resto. Viant hosted the first of their "Offline Dinner Parties" at the trendy Markt in the ol' meat packing district in NYC. A great chance to eat more mussels and moule frites (another trend I've noticed). I also had a chance to meet some great people and visit with old acquaintances. Mark Oster of Grant Thornton, and even Alison Fishman of Viant in San Francisco came out for the event. Terri Lonier (Founder/CEO, Working Solo) was telling me about her SoHo Summit, and its not a summit about the tragically hip neighborhood, but home office professionals. Laura Berland of Orb.net and I met f2f finally, and Jennifer Gold (barnesandnoble.com) and I shared stories from being in the industry since '94. Viant-ers Andrew Frank, Chad, Laura and Richard Adams were as gracious as ever, as was Marilyn Dintenfass, who spearheaded the whole event and spoke passionately on how truly wonderful this company is. 

They really invest in their people, which is one of the most important assets of a company, as the upcoming InfoTech forum will attest to! Eleanor Hass of eTechnologies Associates, Red Burns of NYU's ITP program and NYNMA's Alice O'Rourke (who looked stunning in an Indian-princess-inspired ensemble) also came to this fun eatery for sharing stories and taking a break from the hectic new media pace.