Building on a Tradition : NYNMA Cybersuds

A long way from Long Island City and the Silver Cup Studios, but not from the spirit and hype for NY and new media they started five years ago, NYNMA held their 5th Annual Super Cybersuds on Monday, October 25 at the Metropolitan Pavilion. They touted there'd be "3,000 decision makers" there, and 3,000 people definitely made the decision to go there. Well into the event there were hundreds of people waiting for an hour outside. Once in--there were hors d'oeuvres being passed by geek-attired waitstaff and a man standing by the door with a sign "I need an angel." Creative Good was recruiting and if passers-by dropped off a biz card, they'd get CG's Holiday report as a gift. ** This offer is still valid! Drop them an email! ** Leslie Hoffman of the Earth Pledge Foundation told me she's working on revamping President Lincoln's granddaughter's former home into WorkSpace 2000, a showcase of environmental and communication technology featuring a computer training lab, conference rooms, offices and a residence. Check it out at www.workspace2000.org! 

David Verchere of CorporateGear.com exclaimed this night was "Madness!" and I think Marnie Kotak and Ron Kustal of Virtual Growth would agree -- their booth was swamped. Methodfive and infohouse.com were there, as were the Price Waterhouse guys, who didn't have much to say other than they were letting people know about their services. I spoke with Adam Goldman of Interactive Futures while Steve Shaer, IF's CEO was out working the vast trade show space. In front of the Cushman & Wakefield booth, where Alex Chudnoff and Mark Mandell were handing out their maps, I chatted with Amy Lieberman and Glen Lipka of Kokopelli. Anne Shelton of McKinsey & Co. was investigating the many booths and on our way through I stopped and said "hello" to Kyra Feldman of T3 Media who also reported that lots of recruiting went on. Adam Levy of RadWare announced they went public last month. Nearby I spied SmallWorld.com, which was giving out tension balls and MLX.com was handing out bright orange fluorescent keyrings. IBM's group was presented and represented by JP Frenza and Jonathan Hurley. We discussed plans of the first "Cocktails with Courtney" in Boston (coming up!). Mofo.com handed out "the boss" flashlights and James Ontra and Glenn Handler of iXL reported that over 35 people worked their booth -- a representative from each division all day. 

On the outer ring were the iBreakfast and Hudson Valley booths where I met up with Neal Lorberbaum of Techspace. Even LA was represented with Brad Nye of Vic as he walked around. Afterwards Brad, Mads Lillelund, Jennifer Crews and "Broadway Bob" Hess of Lucent and Renee Edelman of PR21 and I dined a bit at Steak Frites.