Chris and Ponzi Pirillo and the rest of the Gnomedex team have prepared quite a conference for all of us here in Seattle.  I am sitting right now in the main conference room in a comfy leather chair, nice wooden desk, power points for my Thinkpad, and free WIFI (albeit a little slow…).  Kudos to the entire team for giving us the required creature comforts necessary to have a great day.

The Media Age/DeParis Redinger squad is here today to look for the next up and coming content creators and technologists.  I was very pleased to see some aggressive self-promotional behavior last night at the pre-conference mixer (thanks for the sponsorship HP). 

While in line to get a drink at the bar we met a really great guy, Todd Martini who runs Alex’s Coupons.  He started his site to help raise money to help his daughter, Alex, battle Leukemia.  I am very happy to report that she is doing just fine now.  The website was such a hit that it has turned into a full-time business for Alex.

The next person we met was Bryan Starbuck, CEO of Talent Spring.  With the rise of social networking and all of its rich promise, some entrepreneurs have been trying to create the next CareerBuilder/Monster.com.  Talent Spring will allow users to rank each other’s resumes while submitting their own to create the first peer-reviewed superstar list of exceptional job candidates for any given industry.  Will this work?  It all depends on the seriousness of the community.  The unique thing about Talent Spring is that they are already up and running.  Keep an eye on them, and in the future when they launch their beta site, PeopleAhead. 

In short, Chris threw a great party and an even better beginning to a crazy conference.  Enjoy the rest of the show.