The third week of each month in North Texas is always busy.
Most of the professional Internet and technical groups have a night staked out
for meetings, but this week has been busier than normal.
Monday - The
Internet Tax Conference brought their road show to Dallas and with all the
press and leaders in town it seemed that everyone was having a press conference
to express their opinions. I had breakfast with David Young a Director at Trilogy, Patrick Ryan the CEO of the Texas Chamber of Electronic Commerce, Scott
McCollough the lead Counsel of the Texas ISP association and Andy McKinnon of fordpreowned.com before the
fordpreowned.com press conference I was attending. FYI- The Eggs Benedict at
the Fairmont may be the best in Texas.
The Internet Tax commission could not even agree on what to
disagree about, but that was not a big surprise to anyone paying attention. Everyone
knew each other’s opinion before the conference started and the possibility of
having a vote with a two-thirds majority on any issue was never a possibility.
So the tax issue will be fought on another day.
Tuesday – TIE Net had their monthly “Happy Hour” for
founders and principals of local E-COM’s at St. Pete’s Blue Marlin in Deep
Ellum. Laura Kelso a co-founder of U-Bundle.com was the hostess. About 50 people showed up for the gathering
of minds. Talked to Chris Seifert the founder of CPAQuest.com about their plans for the future. Had a
great time talking shop with Paige Dawson the director of marketing and
co-founder of iThought.com.
So many great minds and ideas and there is never enough time to talk to
everyone.
Wednesday – The
Dallas Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association (DFWIMA.com) was as
entertaining as always. Neil Conklin and Sheryl Gatto of iChoose.com have a way of lighting up the room and
turning a meeting into party. A packed house filled Club Corp’s La Cima club as
Kim Martin of iChoose.com
and Ellen Trammell of BeFree.com did presentations on “online customer
acquisition”. Macromedia’s local E-Biz
team sponsored this month’s festivities. The DFWIMA meetings are a paradise for
networking. I had a chance to speak to Lee Blaylock the CEO and Lydia Chase the
Director of Interactive Marketing of ServiceLane.com. Shelly Logan of Beenz.com is always worth finding in the crowd. Trista
Collier, the president of the local AMA, and I talked about the Pinnacle awards her
group has each year. If you have not nominated your company or another worthy
group you only have until March 31st.
Thursday afternoon and night we will be at Scient's E-Brief
and Party, followed by the Dallas Internet Society meeting. Friday we will be
at Marianne Radwan’s (Director of
Marketing and PR for the Dallas office of Sevin Rosen) “Happy Hour”. So many events so little time and only two legs
to get you there, but I am “Having the time of my life.”
