We have all had more than our fair share of industry events, cocktail parties, dinners, etc. over the past three years that leave us feeling like there's no hope - the economy is on a downward spiral, and its never coming back. Everyone is tired of bad news, sad stories and endless complaints, and the media doesn't help with its dismal economic indicators and viewpoints piping through the Internet, TV and radio every day.
But I'm happy to report I walked away from our annual Austin event last week feeling upbeat. For the past four years, we've held an annual cocktail reception for our clients, partners, former employees and potential clients, and every year I look forward to it. We held it at our office downtown this year and the turn-out was great, probably the best we've had since our first year. And I ended up talking to 
people I haven't seen or caught up with in a long time, and for the most part - they saw things moving upwards. There were several old clients there that had recently started companies and both were doing well - one was an R&D tech start-up that already has orders coming in the doors. One of our partners that works with thousands of companies in the technology market has seen a spike in business over the past few months, while one of our largest clients reiterated that they are on an impressive performance financial path and internal morale is excellent. And believe it or not, but I didn't meet one person that was actively looking for a job, which is highly unusual in the economic environment we're living in.
So my take away is that things are getting better in the tech sector (though, I will warn you that I am an optimist). Another person told me that their husband, an IT consultant, is seeing IT spending jump dramatically right now. This is all good news for the tech sector, and good news for Austin. Bad news is easy to spot, but there is plenty of productivity and opportunity going on right now, and I'm happy to report it was captured at our annual event at 6th and Congress just last week.
Thank you everyone for attending, we very much appreciate every one of our clients, former and current employees and partners!
