SIC was a blast!

Well, I'm back from Shareware Industry Conference. What an awesome experience! Each one is better than the last (well, I've only been to two, so I'm not sure it's exactly a trend).

I arrived Wednesday afternoon at about 2:30 pm. The airport is about one hour away from downtown in the middle of nowhere. I was kept in great company by Hugh Gray, Mary Jo Castor and Gordon P. Turner, and Bernie Hoffman (who I don't think recognized any of us and slept the entire way). The hotel was very classy, and I arrived just in time for SIC registration.

That night at the Welcome Reception, I finally got to meet (a hairless) Brandon Staggs, who's a blast to hang out with. Other friends such as Gregg Seelhoff, Dexter Bell, Gary Elfring, Thomas Warfield also floated in and out of the conversations. The CoffeeCup guys were passing out purple bracelets for their party saying that you needed to wear them right away because they were going to be giving out iPods (unfortunately, I didn't win one).

The next three days were filled with great sessions (such as Dave Collins' session on Google AdWords, Gary Elfring's session on inexpensive packaging, and Microsoft's seminar where I think they learned more than we did), mediocre food, and awesome schmoozing.

The trip came to a climax on Saturday night with the Shareware Industry Awards banquet. There were some surprises (such as freeware and commercial software walking away with a few of the prizes), but the biggest surprise of all was mine. My program, Images: In Context! in the Best Photo Program or Utility category, was up against some heavy-hitters: Google Picasa 2, PentaSuite Digital Photo by Pentaware, and CoffeeCup Pix Converter by CoffeeCup Software. Faced with this heavy competition, I didn't think my little program - just five months old - had any chance. So I was absolutely floored when they announced Images: In Context! as the Best Photo Program or Utility for 2005. I'm still not exactly certain what I said when I was on stage, but I'm assured that I didn't look like too much of an ass. After a few drinks with friends in the bar, I made my way upstairs, packed my things, and slept for a few hours before my relatively peaceful flight home.

All-in-all, it was a great experience and I can't wait until next year.

When I got home, the first thing I did was hug my kids and rush them out the door to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I guess not everything this week could be fantastic. ;-)