Hi  !

I've got a short rant if you'll indulge me.  What's with event registration and attendance?  There seems to be no correlation between who registers and who shows up.  From what I understand from other event hosts, it also doesn't correlate whether the event is free or has a charge.  Is it a function of too many events and activities that you try and cover your bases?  Or is an event registration not really a commitment to attend?  As an event planner for over 25 years, I know what goes on behind the scenes that make registration important - logistics like having enough lunch and chairs; respecting the effort that speakers put into their presentations;  but more importantly it's also about getting the right content for the audience. Please consider this the next time you sign up for something.  We tend to get a toss up at Jam, with about 1/3 of registrants not showing at all, and 1/3 magically appearing.  Remember, we want to make the event right for you, but we need to know who YOU are!
 
So how was WIP's Mobile Jam Session at CTIA Wireless - in short fantastic!  Thanks so much to our attendees, speakers and everyone who attended. We had over 200 people throughout the course of the day.  Derek Kerton from the Silicon Valley Telecom Council led off with the UnPanel; and we had 8 topics and over 16 leaders for the Discussion Groups in the afternoon; and topped it off with 10 bowling teams at the After Party- the Dev Program Bowling SmackDown, which was a real hit to have fun and continue making great contacts,complete with T-shirts for all and goofy team names. Check out our FaceBook page for more photos and the great photo contest led by Sony Ericsson.  We will shortly send out a survey to all previous Jam attendees (we've held 8 Jams so far!), to get your feedback; and help us plan the next ones, to make them better in more locations. 
 
Our take-aways from CTIA:
-  App Stores continue to dominate the conversation, check out these slides from the WIP Jam Discussion Group on Designing the Ideal App Store;
- 4G/ Broadband also was a big topic with pundits taking sides between LTE and WiMAX, but most agreeing these changes are still a ways off from mainstream;
- Changing wireless community, which we certainly noticed at Jam and confirmed by CTIA, where we had more enterprises attending (airlines, bookstores, service companies) looking for information on how to mobilize their content - Welcome!

We note also that at least 6 of the leading dev programs have made changes to their websites - let us know what you think.
 
Two announcements from WIP at CTIA:
1.  WIP MOU with NGMN - At CTIA we signed a MOU with the NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks) organization.  We look forward to working with Peter Meissner and his team to ensure that developers are seen as equal participants in the mobile broadband ecosystem. 
 
2.  WIP Partnership with Mobile Distillery - We launched our partnership with Mobile Distillery to offer WIP members special access to Alembic, the java device database of 1300+ parameters in over 1000+ devices.  We are still looking for a few beta testers to ensure we have the right set of parameters before we officially open this to members.  Contact me if you'd like access, and check out the list of parameters we will open here.
 
We'd also like to welcome the Swedish Mobile Association as our latest partner.

Next Up:
- April 26/27 -visiting Mobile Distillery and the PACA Mobile Centre a WIP Partner in Marseille, France.
- April 28/29 -  attending the Nokia Developer Summit, Monaco
- April 30/May 1  - attending the Cambridge Wireless International Conference, another WIP Partner

Did you know WIP also provides services to help you set up meetings and make the most out of events.  Call us if you need our help to connect you to the right information, resources and people!

See you soon.

Best, Caroline  

Caroline Lewko, CEO and Founder
Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP)
The 'Connector' for the mobile and wireless industry

Twitter:  mobilejam and wipwiki
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