opinion

Huge Island Gathering Announcement Sunday


ISLAND GATHERING 2009 - CYPRUS! Click here for the re-cap...

As the Eighth Annual Island Gathering stands poised to get underway down here in Curaçao, it' warm, humid and even more collegial than ever with fully half the attendees arriving a day or more early to initiate the relaxed networking that defines this now legendary event.

Dana, Fabian and the B1Events' Island Gathering Team hosted an informal pre-gathering night-before mixer Thursday evening setting the stage for all the great activities to come, and the traditional business advances IG always promises. No one wants or needs a seminar here, as just mingling and moving through the group one meets and converses with those who monitor the pulse of the online industry and make decisions that influence and shape it every day. So what looms on the horizon for online e-commerce? I learned new things last night, and both confirmed and dismissed some of my own ideas, discussed the global economy with all its implications, analyzed politics both positive and negative even as Senators Obama and McCain spoke at the Al Smith Dinner in the background, and we all made plans to meet and discuss mutual goals, synergies and options for moving the industry forward in general, and defining how we can specifically work together on collaborative deals to effect positive change for our individual bottom lines and the overall e-commerce environment moving forward.

I also learned there is a secret IG2009 announcement scheduled for Sunday, and no matter where in the world you are based, you don't want to miss it. If you are working on your 2009 travel and entertainment budget make certain to ink in the ninth annual Island Gathering in 2009 - because whether you've never attended or you're a veteran like me, you're not going to want to miss out on the next one. And one thing is guaranteed, it will sell out.

Stay tuned...

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