I met some great people at CES 2010

As mentioned in an earlier post, CES is becoming a place to meet new people, cement relationships with old friends, and basically network.

For me, meeting up with friends such as Terri Stratton (MobilePCWorld), Michael Reyes (HardwareGeeks), Hector Russo (Geeksroom), and others is one of the highlights.

Dinner with Chris Aarons
Another recurring highlight is dining with Chris Aarons of Ivy Worldwide. Chris Aarons is a Founder and Principal of Ivy Worldwide, formerly BuzzCorps. Ivy Worldwide is (my words) a presence company focused squarely on bringing holistic branding campaigns and programs in social media to companies globally. For which they have won the WOMMIE and HP Circle Awards, among others.

In what has become a tradition at CES, I had the privilege to dine with Chris at Chin-Chin (NYNY Casino).

During the fabulous meal, listening to the innovative things that Chris, Geoff Nelson, Nick White, Tom Augenthaler, and the entire Ivy Worldwide crew are dreaming up was pretty impressive.

How I wish I can tell all y’all what they are doing or about to do!

In fact, I have to make it a point of spending more time with these extremely creative people.

Ivy Worldwide, folks. Lock them into your consciousness, and watch them.

Lunch with Phil McKinney
My luncheon with Phil McKinney, Amy Reardon, and Ann Finnie was another highlight of this year’s CES for me.

I had jumped at the chance to meet again with Phil McKinney when Ann and Amy decided to set up a meet.

Phil is a fascinating man. As CTO of HP’s Personal Systems Group, I am sure he is a technologist. We all are, since entry into technology is low, and easy.

However, it is his views on innovation that has me hanging on to his every word, speech, and slide deck! Rarely do you see such an accomplished person publicly go on record exhorting people, companies, and governments to innovate.

My readers know how I feel about innovation: innovate or die. Or, worse yet, become hopelessly irrelevant.

However, Ann threw a new wrinkle into this: she turned the tables, and interviewed me instead!

I enjoyed myself just taking in knowledge.

Pretty cool.

CntrStg
CntrStg gave a dinner at CES 2010 for a select group. Sponsored by HP and DisplayLink, the dinner refreshed what we knew about DisplayLink and introduced us to a new product by HP that utilizes DisplayLink technology. I have a copy of the device, and I shall bring you my preview and reviews as soon as possible.

At the dinner were:

  • Anything but iPod: Grahm Skee;
  • Chip Chick: Helena Stone;
  • Chris Aarons;
  • CntrStg: Kendra Temporale;
  • DisplayLink: Dennis Crespo, Jason Slaughter, Seb Hochmuth, Theo Goguely;
  • Gear Diary: Judie Lipsett;
  • Geek News Central: Todd Cochrane;
  • geekazine: Jeff Powers;
  • GeeksRoom: Hector Russo;
  • GottaBeMobile: Mark Sumimoto;
  • Hack College: Chris Lesinski, Kelly Sutton, Mike Bertolino
  • HP: Edgar Haren;
  • Microsoft: Mike Fosmire
  • Mobile Jaw: Mike Temporale
  • MobilePCWorld: Terri Stratton
  • Mobility Minded: Johan van Mierlo
  • Notebooks.com: Amy Zunk, Josh Smith, Xavier Lanier
  • Stowe Consulting: Kim Stowe
  • swedishtechreport: Micael Samuelsson

I met some of these people for the first time. My gain, of course.

I have also been given a couple of DisplayLink USB devices to give away to users. How should I do this? Send your suggestions to John.Obeto@absolutevista.com

Great People at CES 2010

  • Chris Aarons
  • Terri Stratton
  • Michael Reyes
  • Ann Finnie
  • Amy Reardon
  • Phil McKinney
  • Andy Marken
  • Hector Russo
  • Judie Lipsett
  • The Entire HP Crew
  • The Entire AR Edelman team
  • Jeffrey Powers
  • Tony ‘Frosty’ Welch
  • And many, many more!

Missed at CES 2010

  • Joe Hunkins – He was busy, but we’ll still meet up someday.
  • Nick White, Geoff Nelson, Tom Augenthaler: Buzz Masters
  • Mauricio Freitas, Eric Hicks, Steve Hughes: if you want to know anything about mobiles, you cannot do better than knowing these guys
  • Ash Nallawalla: The SEO Guy!

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