Last week I attended the first Mobile Web Americas conference in Orlando and have to say that I was very pleased. The speakers were first rate and very knowledgeable, the agenda topics were interesting and my fellow attendees came from a wide range of businesses and geographic areas. For me, it was well worth it to go.

I think it is safe to say that most of us in attendance were surprised that there weren’t more people there. I’m not sure if this is a reflection of it being the first year of the event, a year full of lots of other events or just that our industry is so new – the mobile web in particular. But don’t put this down as a conference to skip just because so many folks did this year, I’m betting that next year it will be packed. As it should be.

HIGHLIGHTS OF MOBILE WEB AMERICAS

The Speakers from Big Name Companies
It was so great to be hearing from giant companies like Google, PayPal, Nokia, and Microsoft right alongside of some of the big names in mobile like Bango, JumpTap, Opera, and so many more that I can’t even begin to name them all. The high caliber speakers were clearly one of the best aspects of Mobile Web Americas. I will be posting about several of the panels and speeches in the upcoming weeks. Keep your eyes out for articles about mPoria and Bytemobile, both of whom I sat down with for interviews.

Most Memorable Personalities
You know how at every conference there are one or two people who just seem to light up the conference? Well, this one was no different. I’m sure that no one in attendance would dispute that Peter Shankman, from The Geek Factory, was the most robust personality in the room. His humor and high energy really added a lot to the conference. I especially liked his admonishment to “get busy networking on Facebook – NOW.” His poker chip business card was also a big hit.

Annie Turner of GoMo News was undoubtedly another of the most memorable folks. She moderated a couple of the panels and did such a great job asking terrific questions. It is obvious she is a journalist at heart. I loved knowing she was live blogging as we sat there. Hopefully I will stay in good touch with Annie as I felt I met a kindred spirit.

Best Speech that was Unexpectedly So
That last time slot of the official Day One of the conference (but really the second full day since I attended the Mobile Web 101 pre-conference workshop) was allotted to Gary Kibel, an attorney from Davis & Gilbert LLP. After a long day of absorbing as much as I possibly could I thought that it might be a struggle to listen to an attorney talk about the legal aspects of mobile marketing. Thankfully, I was wrong. Gary was a terrific speaker, shared a TON of helpful, specific information and captivated us. Several of us were commenting in the networking hour that he was terrific.

Personal Highlights
There was one person I was very much looking forward to meeting. Almost from the moment I stepped foot into the mobile industry I kept coming across Ajit Jaokar. First as the author of Mobile Web 2.0, then as a blogger at Open Gardens Blog and then finally in ForumOxford. It was quite a pleasure to meet Ajit in person. He was an excellent chairperson of Mobile Web Americas and gave a fascinating presentation about widgets. (I’ll be so happy when I really understand widgets!)

And then there was Ben McFarlin from blinkcorp. He made my day by recognizing me from this blog. Then we had the most interesting conversation about his text business, which I think is a terrific idea. He’s a true entrepreneur.

The Big Miss
I was also looking forward to meeting Cameron Moll, the author of the wildly successful Mobile Web Design. We’ve exchanged a couple emails and I have his book. Because I was attending the other breakout session and then I had to leave that night I missed meeting him in person. I’m sure this won’t be my last chance.

A Couple Shout-Outs
I just have to say thanks to Matt Womer (W3C) and Dr. Rotan Hanrahan (MobileAware) for being so welcoming that first morning. To Ghatim Kabbara (Safira Solutions) who said I should come to Barcelona when my book is done. It was fun to meet Brendan Moran and Kate Moore (Circuit City) since I love circuitcity.com. It was fun to meet part of the team behind that awesome site. It was also fun to meet Antonio Vince Staybl (itsmy.com) who has a very fun mobile internet community going. And to Brennan Hayden (WDA WirelessDeveloper Agency) who was (get this) the first person to send a text message. He’s the “Come here Watson” guy of text messaging and a darned nice guy who Kate and I had dinner with in Downtown Disney.

Mobile Web Americas Bottom Line
See you there next year.