SNW, a reflection and review of the numbers

Last week marked the annual pilgrimage to one of the storage industry's seasonal events, Storage Networking World, held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida.

As with events past, last week had many industry watchers buzzing about the week’s events and conversations, while those of us who weren't fortunate enough to be able to attend, watched from afar.

There were few real surprises from the week, although, as in years' past there were certain to be discussions emerging around how relevant SNW is and how much do industry watchers and end users alike really get out of the week’s sessions, hands-on lab and festivities.

While it’s not the focus for this blog to take that discussion on, as in posts past, it is interesting to reflect on the numbers.  So without further ado, let’s look at some of the more compelling numbers from last week’s event.

140.  Number of tweets using the “official” #SNWUSA hashtag over the past week. Most prolific twitterer, which should come as no surprise to many, is Stephen Foskett. Of note, the #SNW hashtag generated only fifteen tweets in a search for the week.

132. Number of presenters listed on the SNW USA website. Updated to reflect the latest AP Stylebook correction.

58.  Number of blogs, as of April 16^th, referencing “SNW” or “Storage Networking World” as subject matter.  One of the personal faves was the “unofficial” review of chotckies or “Conference Loot” written by Stephen Foskett as Pack Rat, in this instance.

19.  Number of pre-registered “media” on the official SNW pre-registered media list dated 4.9.10.  Interesting to note, InfoSmack podcast co-hosts Marc Farley and Greg Knieriemen as pre-registered media.  Not sure those traditional media, such as Stephen Lawson from IDG and Dave Raffo from TechTarget, would feel the same.  Regardless, and I realize I don’t qualify even though I blog about the event, but is it too early to dream about a media badge for the fall?

17.  Number of NetApp presentations highlighted in a recent press release. That’s not a typo.  Granted it raised awareness along with a few eyebrows, but 17 seemed high if not excessive from any one company. To be fair, some were customer presentations and tied to SNIA but it left many of us working on the fall’s abstracts looking for the special sauce needed to make submissions rise to the top of the selection process.

16.  Number of press releases distributed via BusinessWire, MarketWire and PR Newswire.

9. InfoSmack Podcasts and counting, plus three videos and counting.  Media or not, they produce a lot of great content.

1.  Average number of tweets from the “official” SNWUSA twitter channel.

As discussed with many attendees, as well as clients, it seemed as if this Spring’s pilgrimage was a little lighter attended then most.  As one analyst noted, there appeared to be fewer vendors attending.  And, the bar was emptier. While potentially true, the bar did turn up one picture that few tracking the industry of late thought they’d see,

For those that attended and shared their experiences, a huge thank you. It’s always good to see and hear how the conference continues to evolve.

And before I sign-off, the usual disclaimer. No clients were consulted ahead of time in the preparation, drafting and re-drafting of this entry. One word of parting wisdom. When creating blogs, make sure to hit save often.