I honestly wish I could relate to you all everything that went on yesterday here but there was simply too much happening here. This kind of information overload combined with the incredible wealth of fantastic people we've gotten to meet and hang out with nearly defies description.

Tom DeReggi did an outstanding job of educating a fairly good sized group on the subject of looking at what kind of new developments and opportunities WISPs are seeing in the business world. This was a session anyone from a brand new businessperson thinking about getting into this field right through someone like me could gain a lot of insight from. During Tom's session I formulated several questions that I was hoping to ask when the question and answer period came around but every single one of my questions was answered by Tom before I even got a chance to ask. Talk about thorough!

After Tom's session we went to see Matt Larsen's session on what it is like to start and run a WISP from the perspective of a "newbie" trying to figure it all out as he went along. The complete honesty and openness Matt provided including some of those awkward moments we all had (have?) as we grow our businesses.

The next session we attended was also put on by Matt and was titled the "Good enough network" - something that you just know I wanted to be involved with. As unbelievable as this might sound, (coming from me) everything Matt said was 100% right on the money. Matt managed to hold his audience right through his entire presentation with a constant barrage of questions from almost everyone in the audience. Someone behind me commented that he was amazing as every time someone asked about anything Matt brought up something on his computer to support his answers - from billing systems right through to bandwidth monitoring Matt was able to show a functioning application to the audience.

At the end of his session Matt had to run (he had promised to help man the Tranzeo booth) and almost everyone in his audience stayed and continued the discussion - a sure sign that the crowd was not only interested but extremely motivated to continue. Way to go Matt!

Next up - Lunch.

Let me say this, if you'e never been to an ISPCON (this is actually my first) these events are first class all the way.

My wife and I ended up sitting at a table with Tom DeReggi, Dustin Jurman and Kory Mohr (WISPCentric.com) with Jim Sutton of Wireless Tech Radio joining us for quite a heated discussion on FCC Policy. As this discussion heated up we were joined by Frank Muto - someone I have developed a lot of respect for.

With this group of educated people you just know some serious brainstorming is going to take place. One of the concepts that was suggested was the need for us (WISPs/ISPs, hell everybody) to become more active in the regulatory process.

One of the concepts that was floated was the idea that we should all be looking to kick in “One hour per month – for the long-term health of your business.” In the next few weeks I will be trying to help get this initiative off the ground with some great tools that will make it a lot easier for busy people (like yourselves) to participate in this critical process.

Hey, if you're in the area, come on down – this is one show that really shouldn't be missed!

Look forward to seeing you. I'll try to post another update tomorrow.

Respectfully,

Ken DiPietro
New-ISP
NextGenCommunications