I realized this morning that next week it's time to start getting things ready to head down to San Jose for Spring VON.x. Sheryl and I are both really excited about this conference. It's a chance to see some great personal friends and colleagues. They're people we talk with all the time, but never seem to get to spend enough real-life time with. Beyond that, we'll be talking with some of the thought leaders in unified communications - the real movers and shakers in the industry.

We arrive in San Jose on Sunday, so we have some time to get ourselves situated before things kick into high gear. We're looking forward to dinner Sunday evening with our close friend Andy Abramson and his wife Helene. That's been our plan for a while. It will be the first time Helene and Sheryl get to meet. I think Andy and I will have to plan our shopping defensive strategy when the two of them get together.

On Monday morning, we're going to start with a bang. Jeff Pulver is holding one of his famous Breakfast with Jeff get togethers as part of the conference. On Monday, Sheryl and I will also be doing some live GeekSpeakTV with other friends. We know we have Pat Phelan from MAXROAM (a fitting St. Paddy's day guest), and James Body from Truphone on video. That evening the gang from MAXROAM, QIK, and Global Roaming are having a party that's sure to be a blast. We anticipate live streaming video from that event as well. And before the party we're meeting a bunch of friends for the VoIP User Dinner. Monday's going to be a long day.

Tuesday is shaping up to be a full day. We'll be meeting with folks from Intelliverse and Agito Networks at some point. We can't miss Jeff's opening talk on the future. And then there's the VONCamp Unconference. Sometime in the Unconference opening times, I'll e doing a brief talk on the Real Life Impact of Social Media. That's a surprise-filled talk that's sure to get some unexpected attention at the conference. The exhibit hall reception event in the evening will

Tuesday evening is Jeff's big all-conference party. He told us yesterday that The Herding Cats will be performing, as they often do at VON conferences. Tuesday will be another long and frenzied day.

On Wednesday, we'll doubtless pick up a couple of briefings in the morning, but we're on an early afternoon flight back home. I'm sure we'll be exhausted. We'll have load of blog posts, podcasts and video from the VON conference and we're ready to hit the road!




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