Arrived in South Lake Tahoe this afternoon, and have already started meeting a lot of cool people, some of whom I have interacted with in the past, and a few new acquaintances as well.

Who I met today:

• Tom Novak (http://tonova.typepad.com/) from Atlanta
• Michael OConnor (http://www.ocomik.net/blog/index.html) from Oswego, Illinois
• Dave Belfer-Shevett (http://www.stonekeep.com) from Boston
• and Chris Pirillo (http://chris.pirillo.com) in person, finally

A bunch of great people. We talked geek stuff, politics, constitutional law, you name it (your typical tech conference fodder of course). I helped stuff bags for the attendees. Putting on a conference like this is a ton of work, something very few people actually understand, especially when you're a small company or organization running a show labor-of-love style. And that's what this is - there's no huge up-sell to come out of this, it's all about getting together, geeking out and learning from each other.

Quality is what this is all about, and the more I speak to people about it, the more excited I am to be here. I'd choose a conference like this, with a killer crew of really smart and talented people, over a thousand-attendee marketing fest any day, month or year.