• by Kelly Samardak , June 7, 2010

Internet Week Press Preview Breakfast, Metropolitan Pavillion, New York
June 7, 2010

Just got back from the Internet Week Press Preview Breakfast (around 9:41 a.m.) and I feel like people who run in the morning must feel -- a little jazzed-up, a little sweaty, and focused on killing the day. I know, Cheeseball McGavin. But I dare you not to feel part of something electric... or wireless... or motion-sensing... or super-nerdy after you pop into Internet Week New York's Headquarters at the Metropolitan Pavilion. I dare you.

First person I saw after grabbing my credentials was PRNewser's Joe Ciarallo, who was thumbing through his phone. He was standing by the puffy Yahoo! Clouds. Yahoo! And the other expo hall sponsors and participants have done a great job creating a colorful imaginative space. It feels like you could walk in and invent something immediately. And inventions are on display, don't you worry.

After listening to the opening remarks by David-Michel Davies, Internet Week's big daddy, I wedged through the crowd of reporter types (happy to hear whispers in at least four different languages) and found myself face to face with Carrot Creative's Colin Murphy's orange and green bow tie. He was shooting the moonshine with StartUp Weekend's Amber Rae Lambke. Colin mentioned to me he had just met the "good guys" behind The Eyewriter, an eyeball-tracking tool that enables paralyzed graffiti artists to continue tagging the world. The technology is incredible, but the story behind the invention is more so.

I continued my HQ tour, passing by MakerBot, who was busy etching something in something. Behind MakerBot was Corey Kronengold, setting up his demo station where, lucky for you, he'll be there all week. My heart went pitter-pat as I passed by tons of people whom I didn't recognize. This makes me happy: it serves as a reminder that the Internet isn't just the NY tech scene's playground. Hence my joy at language variety.

Mashable's Brett Petersel was circling the floor, sounding ready as ever for the big Mashable Media Summit on Tuesday. Holy long time no see, I ran into Chris Macowski, Senior Account Executive at Cornerstone Promotion and Jesse Kirshbaum, talent agent at the New Universal Entertainment Agency. Both are involved with SoundCTRL, but their event is on the same night of the dumbdumb launch party. And seriously, by Thursday I'm going to be dead. But you should go!

On my way out the door I ran into Chris Greene, SVP Sales and Biz Dev for the Webby Awards. I interrupted his conversation with Kristen Fergason from Yahoo! and Julie Thompson to gush about how adorable the expo hall is.

I left Internet Week NY's HQ thinking not of the one hour total of sleep I got the night before or the obscene zit nesting in my eyebrows (that I KNOW people are looking at). No, I left thinking that this this is what Internet Week is supposed to feel like. I know I'm speaking too soon, but since this is my third year covering this event, I think it's safe to say Internet Week is a grown-up now. And that's not a bad thing. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this week.

OH! And if you just want a taste and a cheap but good taste -- like a three-buck happy-hour Bud Light -- you can still buy an Expo Hall ticket for a measly 10 bucks.

You will be able to find all photos I shoot throughout the week in the Internet Week NY 2010 Collection I slapped up on Flickr!