Internet Summit Attracts Over 1,200 People to Raleigh

The second annual Internet Summit was last week in Raleigh and co-presented by TechJournal South and Southern Capitol Ventures. You can see all the details, speakers, sponsors here. Over 1,200 people attended, which was almost double last year's event.

The conference exceeded all my expectations and as a firm, we were proud to be involved. When I sat down with Eric Gregg and Scott Hedrick at TechJournal South a year and a half ago and we came up with this idea, I never thought it would get this big, this fast.

The goal of the conference was to put on a more national internet focused conference here in our own backyard. I think this area has needed something like this for a while. What I really like about it is the ability to tie in so many leading national brands and still have the ability to show off the very best regional ones too. For example, locally iContact sponsored. So did Cary, NC-based Bandwidth.com - the guys that power Google Voice. Research Triangle Park has a lot of depth. Sometimes we need to show it off a little. :)

Also, I love all the new business connections that conferences like this help with.

I also liked how we had a great networking reception the night before, had a packed agenda, but still was able to keep the price of the conference at $295 or $245 if you used one of the codes circulating around. I think that helps make it very affordable.

For those that attended, I'd love to get your feedback. I've read a lot of it following #isum09 on Twitter. You can also leave a comment below or just email me - jason [AT] southcap.com. Also, I know a bunch of you have been asking when the taped sessions will be available online and I heard that it could be in about a week and all conference attendees will be sent an email.

For more info about Internet Summit 09, read the TechJournal South story or read this, this, or this.

Thanks to everyone that attended, sponsored, flew in to attend or speak (very very important) and a special thanks to my partner David Jones for all his help and connections. And of course, thanks to Eric, Scott and the team at TechJournal South. Their hustle and passion for making a difference here in the region is noticed and very much appreciated.

Comments

[Jason Caplain]

Thanks Don! Glad you came to Raleigh for it. Hope to see you soon.

[Don Rainey]

Really a great event and very well done. Congrats to the team.