VON, IP Man, Channel Partners and David Byrd

First, sorry about Wednesday. I was planning to discuss cloud computing and telecom but with meetings and a speaking session at VON, I ultimately did not find the time to write the blog. I will cover cloud computing and telecom next week. As a show, VON had fewer attendees and exhibitors than I expected, however, the audience for the panel session on which I participated was standing room only with between 50-60 people.

We launched one of our best IP Man adventures during the opening keynote foe VON, MIAMI VoIP. It's a takeoff of MIAMI VICE and a pleasant romp through the streets of Miami Beach. The villains are the ever odd Noise and Jitter. Rick Martin makes a guest appearance that shouldn't be missed.

I also stayed for the opening of Channel Partners only to discover I wasn't registered. As I was returning from dinner the night before the opening, I spotted a friend from Excel. I decided to be bold and ask if he could help me out with a pass. To my pleasant surprise, he told he would check and if they had extra passes available, he would leave it at the front desk the following day. Sure enough, there was a badge waiting for me in the name of Tom Jones of Excel. Okay, so my friends from Excel have a sense of humor.

I had made backup plans in case there were no extras by also calling Berge Kaprelian of ChannelVision Magazine. He told me no problem and so now, I had two passes. However, when I arrived at the registration booth, my badge had already been printed out and picked up. I assumed Berge had it at the booth. Well, no matter, I had my "Tom Jones" pass and could enter anyway. I found Berge and thanked him for the pass, and was quite surprised when he said he had been unable to register me. He claimed I was already registered and, more astonishing, in the name of Broadvox. Confusing but at this point, I really didn't care. I appreciated his efforts and decided I would be fine being "Tom Jones" of Excel for the evening.

As I walked the aisles speaking to the various exhibitors, I saw my name on a badge in the AccuConference booth. There I was, "David Byrd", or he was. I decided to introduce myself thinking that perhaps he had picked up my badge. Nope, I was actually meeting another "David Byrd", who lives less than hour away in Fort Worth, Texas. During the discussion, I learned that at a previous Channel Partners show he had been given my badge, a Speakers Badge. Apparently, that had made for great fun inside his booth. We agreed that going forward we would carefully examine our badges to avoid any future misidentifications. All in all, a fun conversation and an enjoyable moment to meet "me".

So, "Good Morning David Byrd and Welcome to my Broadvox Blog".

See you on Monday with another great new recipe and more on IP communications!