The first full day of the T.R.A.F.F.I.C. East conference Wednesday at Disney World in Orlando, Florida featured a jam-packed schedule of seminars, networking sessions and social 

events that stretched from 8:30 am to 2am this morning. We will have wire to wire coverage of show week in our conference review article that will be published late next week, but will touch on a couple of Wednesday highlights here before heading back down to the conference center here at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort.

Prior to the conference T.R.A.F.F.I.C. co-founder Rick Schwartz said he would be telling attendees about a revolutionary new product that he expects to 

T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Co-Founders Rick Schwartz (seated) and 
Howard Neu welcome attendees Wednesday morning.

be the "next big thing". That was unveiled right after lunch and the product - dubbed Vertisi - did indeed appear to be a show stopper. Vertisi allows you to lay a piece of film over any piece of glass and that layer of film becomes an interactive touch sensitive display that can be used for anything from store displays to public Internet access available from any surface the film is applied to. A projection unit casts the interactive image on the film. Schwartz has bought 10% of the company and has an option on another 13%. The live demo of Vertisi pulled a shoulder to shoulder capacity crowd into the conference room where it was unveiled. 

Registrants packed the room where Vertisi was publicly unveiled.

A pair of afternoon seminar sessions followed the debut of Vertisi then the business day was drawn to a close with a speed networking session that gave attendees a chance to meet dozens of fellow registrants face to face. Show goers have always placed networking at the top of their priority list and T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is accommodating that demand with a second networking session scheduled to kick off today's agenda.  

Registrants get up close and personal during this speed networking session.

Next up the evening social events took center stage with a cocktail party at the conference center followed by a night out at Disney's Pleasure Island. TrafficZ treated everyone to a rousing party at the Raglan Road Irish pub that was still going strong when we left a little after midnight.

Attendees enjoy an evening of good company and great food and drink along 
with Irish music and folk dancing at TrafficZ's official conference party.

Another busy day waits so we are off to the conference center again. I'll have a post recapping today's events in this space Friday morning.
(Posted May 22, 2008)