Lots and lots going on, here at PopTech. Other bloggers are covering it better than I can. I don't like splitting my attention quite this many ways, because the folks onstage are so smart and interesting that I could be fully absorbed by them. But instead I'm putting out fires -- instant messaging the front desk to send a runner backstage to disconnect the phoneline and re-set it so the folks listening on the streaming audio can pick up the feed. Checking email and sending questions that come in that way to the teleprompter so that the host can ask the speakers those questions. Monitoring the chat and addressing issues that come up there, checking the load, updating the conference blog. All of it is fun, but it's hard not to be scattered.
The conference this year is pretty international, with questioners from Poland and England standing up to ask questions, and a performer from Zimbabwe who just played music. An Iranian singer is coming up (she was mildly challenging to me last night, skeptical that Scheherazade was "really" my name, given to me by my parents), and Sun Microsystems has sponsored a group of folks from Africa, who will be having a round table discussion on Sunday about how the ideas of PopTech can impact Africa. Cool stuff.
I chatted with one of the head retail guys at Target earlier today, and with the exuberant Dina Mehta last night. Also connected with a couple of librarians from Nebraska who wrote a grant to be here, and a writer for Wired magazine, and an engineer who I've seen here once a year for the last 8 years. Backstage I just talked to a fellow who lost both of his arms in an accident and who will be onstage with the prosthesis doctor who is working with him to replace them. Cool, cool stuff. This is one of the highlights of my year.