VON - End of an era

May 8, 2008

I've been holding my tongue on this topic for since word first got out that PulverMedia had been shut down by it's investors. I figured that like most rumors, they were only partially true. In this case, it seems they were true. The resumes are rolling into our marketing department - confirming what was reported.

Somehow the end of VON has hit me in a way I didn't expect. Besides missing my annual treks to San Jose in the early Spring and Boston in the Fall, there is a community of people that I knew would always be there. Knowing that we had a place where we could meet with our mid-tier customers was important. It saved lots of travel to far flung locations and endless nights in another Marriott Courtyard.

This marks the end of one era and invariably the start of another. Like after the end of CTExpo in 2002, we'll surely all scatter our marketing budgets into new venues and locations, but invariably some people never resurface.

Remember the special collection of Jeff's groupies with the Hawaiian Shirts and the industry captains dancing by themselves at the conference parties? Sure, VoiceCon, Internet Telephony and other venues will fill the business void, but those truly unique "VONisms" will be the part that I'll miss the most.

PS: I've got a closet full of VONware (shirts, bags, jackets, etc.) that just became collectors items.