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September 17, 2007
Fall 2007 VON: Home of the Internet Communications Industry
For over a decade I have spoken about the fact that "Internet Communications" was not just about "voice." And that our VON Conferences were for the people who wanted to know what happens as a result of the continuing growth of pervasive broadband penetration combined with advances in Moore's Law.
Back in 1997, VON was the birthplace for the VoIP Industry as we know it today. And over time, we provided shelter for the evolving world of Presence and Instant Messaging and most recently, the emerging world of Video on the Net. I recently turned my attention this summer to Social Media and "Real-Time Social Communications," and I can not help but smile, because NOW, real-time social communications is as close to the original vision I had for Internet Communications all those years ago. It means to me that the original tag line for VON was the correct one: VON is the home for the Internet Communications Industry, and it is a place where our friends from the evolving world of Social Media are invited to come and join us at.
Anyone who has spend time this summer on Facebook and/or twitter or a variety of other social media platforms, knows how sometimes a platform can just feel "alive." It is a world where status messages blur together and turn asynchronous communications into synchronous. A world where feelings of community are communicated by other things as well as voice. It is where your presence is felt by your friends regardless of their location around the world.
Some of the people who have heard me over the years make the statement that Internet Communications is not just about voice might have a better perspective on what I was thinking about way back then. For years, despite my own best efforts, Internet Communications and VoIP were tied together in the minds of many. I remember trying to explain to regulators why the advent of Internet communications wasn't a threat to the established voice communications companies because what I envisioned represented communications which would have not happened without the Internet's power to enable such modes of communication. The continued growth of real-time social communications will continue to help bring people together and provide opportunities to share many things including: presence, community, context and a feeling of connectedness without borders, connecting people with people from any spot in the world with each other.
I am looking forward to having a platform and speaking at Fall 2007 VON where I will be sharing my perspective on the future of Internet Communications as we know it today.
And I hope to see YOU in Boston the week of October 29th. Should be an exciting one for everyone who has a vested interested in the future of Internet Communications.
I have extended our special "early bird" prices for the readers of my blog who register for the VON Conference by September 21st. Please visit our registration page and use the priority code: Jeff1. With this code you save up to US$ 300 from the cost of the "VON Package" and US$ 200 from the "Full Conference."
See you in Boston...
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Readers of my blog are invited to join me on both twitter and Facebook.
Tags: VON, Internet Communications, Social Media, VoIP, Facebook, twitter, Jeff Pulver
Posted by jeff on September 17, 2007 08:06 AM | Permalink
Additional resources: #140conf events | Watch the Jeff Pulver Show | Jeff's Qik Videos
Comments
I have no way to format my comments so its coming all in one paragraph, sorry.
Great…$300 off an $895 ticket or 1-day pass. How much of your audience can afford $595 to attend VON. Let’s think about, your audience. Who are they and who will NOT be able attend VON?
Is your audience made up of people that go to a BarCamp, DevHouse, or a MashUp; where they can cowork with other developers just to see if they can come up with something new and they do this because they have nothing else better to do on a weekend. OR Is your audience made up of those that know the web is changing and can’t quite figure out how to get into the change or more importantly are afraid of the risk that the change is. Which of above do you think are changing the web and more importantly who will NOT be attending the VON show? I don’t think anyone who wires a Pontiac to a ham radio because “it would be cool”, will be attending the show but these are the types that are changing everything. Imagine unleashing the next generation onto VON show floor. Kids with coding expertise that are: (I call it coding expertise because there is no other way to sum up these natural abilities)
§ changing the way we do things in life
§ changing how we communicate
§ changing how much of “ourselves” we put onto the web
§ breaking down walls with open source technology
§ putting a jolt of fear into “providers”
Imagine the fire they’d put under the arses of the product providers and the carriers.
You challenged a panel over a month ago and now I’m challenging you.
Open up the VON show and allow the developers of the ‘next generation interactive web’ to mingle with the companies whose technologies reside in the carrier networks of the world. Let them show your Premier, Platinum, and Sponsors what open innovation really looks like. Maybe then the carriers won’t covet their “precious pipes” anymore when they see that openness can create returns. Open up your conference and let those that truly want to make a change to the current web communications model get a chance to speak with and hear how the “old” new Internet companies are currently doing it. Let the next generation determine how they can use all this PENT up technology to their creative juices.
But as I write I can hear your audience saying to themselves…it costs money to put on a show like this, VON can’t make it free. Who is going to pay for this or that? Valid, but you know what, that sounds an awful lot like…”We built all this infrastructure, why should we open up and not have a chance to MAKE any returns”.
So Jeff…and this audience...just OPEN IT UP?!
Posted by: 5Tacos at September 17, 2007 02:57 PM
It'd be great to have you speak at PodCamp Boston as well, perhaps on the topic of "Lessons of a Serial Entrepreneur" or something like that!
Posted by: Christopher S. Penn at September 17, 2007 10:03 AM