Once again, here’s my disclaimer: this is not my website. It’s the future home of my site that is currently under construction. Hopefully next week. Can’t wait!

Monday night, I attended a great geek gala in Cambridge, Mass., produced by the Web Innovators Group, hosted/founded by clever VCer David Beisel. Start-ups, VCs, hiring folk and the wannabe hired folk all gathered to listen to short “side dish” and “main dish” sessions on new companies and sites. Mostly, however, we were there to exhange whattayados. One thing I’ve come to understand about networking is that you have to go in without expectations. I talked to a lot of people that I may not work with but it doesn’t matter. I was able to partake in some great conversations that either sparked ideas for my business or allowed me to throw thoughts on the table for someone else’s. Either way, it was rare to have a conversation that didn’t lead to something interesting, even if it was another conversation.

One of the guys I talked to (and yes, there were mostly guys there - I’m hoping to encourage more gals to attend the next event to help raise the estrogen level in that place) . . . was Greg Perverill-Conti, a fellow writer and PR guru. His way-better write-up of the event can be found at his blog, Over the River. For the most part my thoughts on the presenters are pretty much in line with his - here’s my bonus commentary, for whatever it’s worth:

NextCat - My fav of the night. As a wannabe screenwriter and movie producer, I will be spending some time on this site fer sure. I talked with Richard Viard, a musician with lots of industry connections (although he also pointed out his funky-haired partner who is apparently even more embedded in connection cave). They are thinking big for next steps (packaging subscriptions - altho the subscription would have to offer even more insider connections to make the deal sweet) but they are also being smart about development and paying close attention to where they get the biggest bites before they blow it out or even up. I’m sure we’ll see them hook up with Variety or other traditional H’wood path in the near future (but hopefully not IMDB). They have a secondary layer, encouraging fans and “cool people” to connect to talent. Not so sure this element will take off, except for maybe the stalker market segs. But, hey, you never know how connections are made, as I’ve already alluded to in this post. It really is all about who you know.

Zync - Great concept, awesome site. Hope these guys do well. No doubt these guys, speaking of stalkers, will be stalked by major travel sites. They’re in private beta - sign up to be a tester if you’re in the Boston area.

GameBrix - I’m not a gamer but these guys just might convert me. Not a fan of their site but, once again, I’m not a gamer. Love the concept of collaboration and swapping game elements. Rock on.

BandDigs - Speaking of rocking on, groupies now have a new best friend. Fans can live chat with their bands and band folk, as well as get in on some live recordings. Not keen on the fact that you are required to purchase a copy of your chats. Blech.

Beacon Street Girls - I love seeing a property really exploit its full potential and touch its audience, online and offline. Founder Addy will be rolling in it before the decade is over - in apparel, cartoons, live productions, whatever pre-teen girls and their moms are willing to pay for. They say their age range is 9-13; I would say they’ll soon skew lower if they’re not careful but I’m guessing they’ve got a much better handle on their own audience than a 30-somethin’ non-Mom who’s not fond of pink.

Fafarazzi - I talked with co-founder Chris Keller about his fantasy celeb league. I am now hooked! Can’t wait to join a league. What a great freakin’ idea - wish I’d thought of it. Surprisingly, Chris says that his market is not exactly pre-teen girls or soccer moms. In fact, we were talking about the site in a group of about 4 guys that are pals of mine - most of them head up the cool finance site Geezeo. Before I knew it, all of these guys were talking about the strategy of building a team with Paris, the benefits of having an A lister or scoring Hilary Duff (so to speak) who, until Fafarazzi came along, they had no idea who she was. Chris tells me that he’s been blown away by the number of guys that are joining leagues. Go figure. Just when you think you’ve got your target markets nailed down.

Social Degree - This is a blog by Brian Balfour. Like Chris, Brian didn’t present but we chatted a bit (just a short bit) about marketing and social networking. But mostly we talked about his days in running events and his uncle out west who used to run event planning. Always cool to run into a fellow behind-the-scenes organizer and swap crazy stories. His blog is worth a gander and some great discussion points regarding how the right design, content and approach in social networking shapes a community’s development.

That’s all I got on the WebInno crowd. Can’t wait to attend in September to watch more folks sell themselves. Although the best part is absolutely hashing with clever folk. I wouldn’t call networking actual work. More like netplaying. It’s too much fun.