• by Kelly Samardak , March 18, 2009

VideoNuze Video Schmooze Reception, Hudson Theatre, New York
March 17, 2009

If I could have teleported everywhere yesterday, I would have.  It was one of the very few days I'm embarrassed to live in New York.  That's right, St. Patty's Day, when it's less about celebrating heritage and more about getting blind drunk in public and honking up cabbage outside of Cosmic Cantina.  I could hear the "woo"s and "yAYEAH!"s (the hoot made infamous by Lil Jon that I THOUGHT had run its course) well before delis stopped making bacon-egg-and-cheese-on-a-rolls and I considered boarding up my windows and skipping  VideoNuze's Broadband Video Leadership Evening, which was being precluded with the "VideoSchmooze" networking reception.  I know -- I can feel your cringe at the mere volunteer self-naming of "schmooze," but heck -- I'm a fan of calling it as it is, so come with me to the Hudson Theatre and let's get our schmooze on.

But wait! First, let's navigate through the beginning of the East Village and into the Union Square subway station.  I had to plow through a sea of green-doused under-agers  (everyone looks like they're in high school to me -- a sign of my age, I think) dancing to nothing and reeking of Johnny Three Legs.  The sidewalk smelled like my high school janitor's breath, and the older crowd scurried with wild eyed fear, dressed in "I actually work for a living" wear - rushing for the safety of their townhouses.  Safely ensconced in the station, I saw the turnstiles threaded with pickled parade goers unable to grasp the concept of swiping.  I made it through, and up to the NRW entrance - and face to face with about 10 sloshed and lost travelers.  Two burly guys were holding up one fellow who kept growling like a post-menopausal grizzly, stating the obvious: "I can't even speak." (I am fluent in drunkard; I plan to teach a class). 

I finally emerged on 43^rd and Broadway after hurtling over a young "lady" who dropped her water bottle on the last step of the escalator and simply stopped, turned around, and picked it up instead of getting out of the way.  You're familiar with how the escalator works, right?  I passed two girls screaming at each other about "snatching my phone right out of my hands!!" and entered the Hudson Theatre, a lovely auditorium nestled in the Millennium Broadway Hotel.  It was like putting on soundproof headphones against one world and entering another - this one clad in suits, smart skirts, and a touch of green, with more than a dollop of palm-squeezing gel to grease the track.

It was 6:30 p.m. and it HOT in the designated schmooze area.  I couldn't see the auditorium through the sea of heads.  Every time I tried to weave to freedom, I ran into a hidden pedestal with flatscreens or laptops for demos.  Clogging the getaway areas were pedestal rubber-neckers.  Each guest was given one drink ticket, but the bar was surprisingly uncluttered.  I took a breather at the Horn Group demo station, where I discovered that Evan Goldberg (obviously of the Horn Group) actually LOVES the Hoboken St. Patty's parade (already happened, you know, before the "holiday").  "I think we've just shown our age disparity," I offered.  Ben Billingsley, Managing Director at Horn Group, brought over Sabrina Horn, the CEO and Founder.  In the few seconds that I lurked, their pedestal was getting good traffic.

I have no idea how they did it, with the bodies crammed so tight like Don't Break The Ice, but the waitstaff managed to skid through the skin jams with trays of sliced wraps, meat in a waffle cup, and what I think was chicken on a stick.  I discovered Sharon Gomes Thomas of Little Airplane Production, who was ecstatic to smile for a photo with her posse that included Christopher Thomas who said "as long as my eyes aren't closed," when I checked the preview on my camera and yelped "Perfect!"  It turns out one eye is open and the other is almost there, which is why you won't find Christopher's photo here.  

Jonathan Leess of DoubleVision Media, Jose Rivera and Mark Fareri of Rainbow Networks, Grenville Gooder of BrightCove, Inc, Susan George of BigBAnd Networks, Inc, Jeff Malkin of Encoding.com (well, that's calling it what it is, isn't it?), Bill Ponton of AnySource, Eric Shih and Jason Rose of A&E Television Networks, Alessandra Sandron of RTI Mediaset Group, Adam Greenbaum of Move Networks, and MANY others took advantage of the hour-and-a-half cocktail reception before the panel of executives from the broadcast, cable, advertising and video aggregation industries got into what's they're doing to ensure that the road to broadband's future is lined with cash.

Send your schmoozefest invitations to kelly@mediapost.com and you're in Just An Online Minute!

*Updated link to photo set*