I’m now back from attending DEMO‘09 where I had a chance to catch up with several people I haven’t seen in a long time. Last night was especially fun as Don Clark of the WSJ rallied a group of musicians together and rocked out the crowd. It was a wonderful end to a productive day of new company launches and networking, many of which were focused on saving time and money – probably a smart thing during these shaky economic times.

This week we’re preparing some new stories and will have announcements coming up.

Related articles:

• From small tech show, new ideas (Wall Street Journal)
• DEMO has started, keep an eye on our live coverage (ubergizmo.com)
• At DEMO, it’s all about content discovery (CNET)
• DEMO’09, a smarter internet (PC Magazine)
• DEMO Trend:  The Smarter Web (ReadWriteWeb)
• DEMO Roundup:  Doing more with less, a smarter Internet, and more (VentureBeat)

We’re now in Palm Desert and enjoying all the palm trees and desert weather!  The presenters for DEMO ‘09 are now here and the attendees are registering and getting settled.  The official program kicks off tomorrow with 39 companies launching their latest innovations.  The last time I was at DEMO, there were almost 80 companies presenting, with several on the waiting list, so the recession is palpable simply in the numbers of CEOs staged for their 6-minutes of DEMO time.  Meanwhile there are almost 70 members of the press here, so the companies should be happy that they will likely get face time with journalists.

DEMO just informed us that they are broadcasting the entire conference live on the web starting at 8:30AM PST on March 2nd and 3rd here:  www.demo.com/live

Related articles

• How to monitor Demo 09 live (news.cnet.com)
• Demo conference getting new boss from VentureBeat (news.cnet.com)

We’re off to Palm Desert to mix and mingle at DEMO.  This is the last time the wonderful Chris Shipley will be hosting the venerable event, as the changeover to Matt Marshall of VentureBeat is official.

Despite the economic recession and contraction of budgets and expenses, DEMO is still hosting the launch of several hot companies, ready to gain their 6-minutes of fame, which hopefully will catapult them to an even lengthier span of fame.. and fortune.

I haven’t been to DEMO for a year or so, and I’ve never been to Palm Desert, so I’m looking forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new ones.

Related articles

• DEMO 2009 list of startups (vator.tv)
• Congrats to Matt Marshall, VentureBeat on DEMO Deal (gigaom.com)
• Demo conference getting new boss from VentureBeat (news.cnet.com)
• DEMO Producer Chris Shipley to Pass the Torch to VentureBeat’s Matt Marshall (readwriteweb.com)