Oh me! Oh my! Who is that I spy?

Amidst the beginning's of Hurricane Floyd's flurry in the city, I rushed off to hear Cliff Friedman of Constellation Ventures in the grand ballroom at the Crown Plaza for the final day of eTV World. As I ducked in, James Cramer of TheStreet.com was gesticulating wildly up front talking about the changing face of investment in the Internet era and the rise of the individual investor. I looked at my program, I looked up at the banners of sponsors, I looked back at the program, I asked my neighbor if there was a schedule change, and then I realized that I was in a different conference! Lo and behold the First Conferences conference on Investor Relations was being held in the same spot that eTV was in yesterday. There's definitely no lack for conferences on the Internet topics of the day!

I came back later for the cocktail party sponsored by Citigate Dewe Rogerson and met Deborah Ward of First Conferences who told me this was the first in a series of six IR related conferences. Jonathan Sack of "Investor's Business Daily" and John Giordano of Guardian were chatting and as I spoke with them, enjoyed some mui yummy hors d'oeuvres. Wearing the famous "Capitalist Tool" tie that Malcolm Forbes gives out personally, Joseph Shaefer of Kostech Corporation, told me how he got the tie after sending in his book to Mr. Forbes with a request to review it. Jack Phillips of CCBN.com told me about his company's products. IReye is their service that uses a template to help companies manage their IR sections of their websites and StreetEvents.com is a web-based calendaring tool for conflict management so corporate customers can see when to schedule conference calls. Just across the cheese and fruit table was Stockmaster.com, their direct compeitor, which has been in existence since 1993 as the first public site with delayed stock quotes. Kevin Kopanon, an account executive, said they also offer clients assistance with IR sections of their websites as well, but their pages are customizable.