But before I get too ahead of myself, let's take a look back at Conference 2010 itself. We started with our opening reception and registration the evening of May 23 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Clients had an opportunity to network with Accubid industry experts, business leaders and their peers. The Conference itself got underway the morning of May 24 with opening keynote, kicked off by Accubid founder and CEO Giovanni Marcelli, who unveiled Accubid Enterprise Estimating Version 5.0. Mark Mandarelli, Accubid Chief Technology & Products Officer, and Co-President, took the crowd through a technical product demonstration that knocked everyone's socks off. Accubid Enterprise Version 5.0 will be released October 2010, but for the attendees, the release cannot come soon enough with many asking how they could get Enterprise today.

What followed post keynote was three days of education, technical, and product sessions focused on Building Information Modeling (BIM), Estimating, Product Management, and Service Management, with more than two dozen sessions over the three days. These sessions were sprinkled with peer networking and hands-on technology test drive opportunities in the Accubid Tech Center, and social activities to explore the fun side of Las Vegas, including an amazing experience at Cirque du Soleil's The Beatles Love. Rather fitting as the Conference theme organically evolved to a sense of positive revolution with attendees gravitating to the sessions focused on Accubid Enterprise Estimating.

The Conference closed with our first executive panel question and answer, staffed by Accubid's product, industry, and business leaders. Attendees had an opportunity to discuss what they had seen over the course of the Conference, and pose questions directly to the individuals at Accubid who manage product, service and company direction.

One of the most interesting comments I heard during this closing session was that Accubid needed to do a more effective job of marketing the annual Conference. Many of our attendees did not fully appreciate the tremendous amount of educational and technical resources, insider glimpse at future Accubid products, and peer network opportunities provided at the Conference. All this, and a world-class facility in a world class location for less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day. We're committed to helping get the word out so the Conference can continue to grow, and the value we provide to our clients and the industry will continue to expand. We're just under a month away from announcing preliminary plans for Conference 2011, and we're looking at more ways to get the message out that it's the must attend industry event of the year.

Illustration by Angelo Katsaros