The WHD.usa conference gets underway today at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort in western Pennsylvania's scenic Laurel Highlands (about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh). WHD (WorldHostingDays) is the world's largest series of conferences for the hosting and cloud service provider industry but this will be the first time a WHD event has ever been held in the U.S. 

WHD was founded in Germany where they drew over 6,300 attendees for their biggest annual event - WHD.global - two months ago in Rust, Germany. This first American show is expected to draw about a tenth of that number but based on WHD's stellar reputation and what we have seen since arriving at Seven Springs Monday afternoon, they are likely to grow very quickly in this market, just as they have in Asia, Australia, India, Japan and China.

We got an early taste of what is ahead last night when CPanel welcomed early arrivers to their pre-show Come2gether Party at the Lake Tahoe Lodge. 

Above: There were some light showers on and off last night, but it was easy to get undercover, even on the outdoor deck where you could take a table under the expansive roof as these four familiar faces did. Clockwise from left are Paul Goldstone (President of the .CO.COM Registry and Founder of registrar DomainIt.com), Monte Cahn (Co-Founder of RightOfTheDot.com), Ken Hansen (.CO.COM CEO) and Steve Albert (DomainIt.com). Monte will be moderating a high profile session on the domain name market this afternoon at 3:45pm.

Below: It was also cozy (and dry) inside the Lake Tahoe Lodge. No rain is forecast today so the weather should be perfect for getting outdoors during the two-hour lunch break to enjoy the scheduled networking activities (including Segway tours, an alpine slide and chairlift rides) or just explore the mountaintop surroundings (though we have been warned to keep an eye out for bears)!

Above: Though we knew some long time friends from the domain business were going to WHD.usa it was a very pleasant surprise to bump into some we didn't know were coming and whom we hadn't seen for awhile. They included Louise Munck (left), now based in Copenhagen, Denmark as the Business Development Manager at Ascio (who many of you know from her days at Winged Media) and Jason Miner (center), who is now the General Manager of domain focused brands at Endurance International Group after a long and successful run with NameMedia. With them at right is Kevin Kopas, Channel Manager for the Americas at Radix Registry.

Below: The outdoor deck was still buzzing with activity when we left about 10pm to get ready for a very busy two days ahead. WHD.usa officially opens at 9am this morning with a welcoming speech from Emily Parker, author of Now I Know Who My Comrades Are. One of the day's highlights will be a 10am Keynote Speech from Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales. I will have photos & highlights from today and tonight's activity at WHD for you  in my next post from Seven Springs tomorrow morning.