My lord this is a huge conference. We opened up at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta which is gorgeous. You walk into the lobby which is huge and look up and this is what you’ll see. At 5:30 PM we head outside where a fleet of buses were waiting for us to take us to the Georgia World Congress Center to begin the networking kickoff. It was fun they had a little game for all of us to play in order to get us talking to one another. It was very myspace, we had to ask people questions to see if they did something pertaining to peanuts. Why? I didn’t pay attention to that part, to be honest, I didn’t ask anyone the questions. I wasn’t trying to be anti-social I wanted to talk to people and ask them questions about why they were there. I met many people, students, graphic designers, entrepreneurs and recruiters. So if you met me and reading this say hi.

We all began filling in the auditorium where we were greeted with a gospel group singing their hearts out. It was nice to get that vibe when you come into the auditorium. I realize that it was a regional example of music but after 4 songs I was wondering how many other people were thinking this audience is not the greatest god fearing crowd. OK I’m going to insert my foot in my mouth here and take a guess by saying I think this crowd had more Agnostics and Atheists than any other profession. Could be wrong but whatever it was fun…take a listen.

Gospel Singing

We were then introduced to Karen Salmansohn who really entertained all of us. The presentation was called…. Ballsy: Ways to Score Extreme Business Success. She was hilarious and made some solid pointers to get anyone who is complaining to shut up and get out there and do it and don’t be afraid to have a set of balls…take risks and don’t be afraid to be different and creative. I loved it and will be reading her blog. Not to get her man bashing but to get access to her creative mind. She asked us to be ballsy and I’m going to show mine by asking her to join me in a “Conversation with Coon“.

We head back to the Hyatt Regency and grab some grub and head to the section where all the booths are set up showing their new products. Being a video producer most of the booths didn’t interest me. But there are a few that I want to podcast the info for. The first is a web application for image and video collaboration called Octopz. This is a web app that will change the way people work. I love it, I will find out more this week stay tuned. The other is Adobe Photoshop CS3, I talked to Chris a representative that was showing me why Photoshop CS3 is important application for video production. I was impressed, take a listen to what he had to show me, I think you will get what he was showing me.

Photoshop CS3 demo

Stay tuned I’m bringing my camcorder tomorrow. Fun. I’m having a blast and am enjoying meeting new people.

Related posts:

1. HOW: Using Storytelling in Design
2. Octopz: My Favorite Booth At HOW
3. HOW: What To Do When…?
4. HOW Was Day 1
5. Birthday Wish
6. New Web Video Series Looking For Actors & Web Designers/Programmers
7. HOW to Reminisce
8. Photoshop Tutorials