When I first started going to Web Innovators Group, it had the feel of an underground happy hour of geeks on parade. We were about 200-300 strong. Last night I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the door to the hotel’s ballroom in Cambridge and found 800+ people inside! Holy cannoli! This is no longer the little event that could.

Let’s get right to the recap:

The Vibe: Anxious. Very little could be heard during the three main presentations due to chatting and poor audio from the front stage. Most of us spent time looking around the room to see who we wanted to talk to when the demos were over. My biggest feedback for host David Beisel is this: time to switch up the format. A bunch of attendees I chatted with said they’d be just as happy with 10-15 side dishes versus any presentation or demo. I typically ask for a quick demo at the booth anyways to see what I missed in the presentation. More one-on-ones would allow us to have more conversations and give us time to meet with more folks.

The Parade: Curious. My prediction pre-event was that the start-ups would be hyperlocal focused. The hyper part is dead on but hyperlocal is not the only way tech is improving. I typically use “hyperlocal” when I refer to sites like Zeer (one of the features at WIG) or MarksGuide. These sites connect people online to offline activities such as grocery shopping or a business seminar. The value of good hyperlocal is an improved experience — both online and offline.

The brainies at WebInno (and beyond) are building tools and apps that take experience beyond the either/or activity of website or real life. They are giving us platforms to create “hyperactivity,” only not the kind that makes your little cousin Johnny ruin Thanksgiving dinner. Sharing stuff is mixing with selling stuff. Communicating ideas is mixing with experiencing ideas. Building cool tools is mixing with playing cool tools. And if you can’t take it on the road, it’ll get left behind.

For instance, I spent some time chatting with Jeff Cutler from 211me, a text ad mobile mashup site. I asked Jeff how 211me differs from my pal Rob Flynn’s venture Pulse Media (Rob is also a group88 partner). Jeff proceeded to show me a promo for the upcoming flick Eagle Eye where fans can mashup Shia LaBeouf’s head with their own pic and forward it to a radio station promo to enter to win a walk-on role on some other DreamWorks flick. As Jeff would say, “That’s hot, right?” Yes Jeff, it sure is.

Mobile apps and i-ing up is the focus of start-ups these days. Apparently we will all be iPodding eventually, or at least everyone born in the ’80s will have them surgically attached to their texting hand. It’s not enough to be interesting, have a cool interface or provide something that brings users back. If you’re not bringing the activity to users while they’re waiting in line at Six Flags or hanging out drinking beers right now, figure out how. And figure it out fast because tomorrow will be too late.

The Deals: ?. My buddy Matt (a very sharp Rails developer) commented that the climate has changed because the start-up crowd has very few pre-funded folks these days. A lot of the companies are off and running and looking for next wave funding or need to figure out how to bring in the ecomm dollars (the biggest question of the night). I didn’t get to chat with any investors which is too bad because I’d like to know where they stand these days. Considering the packed house, I’d say that the funds are there but my gut tells me that the ideas getting the most notice have business plans beyond ad revenue or social connection models.

There is one prediction that I completely blew. Unlike last time, no one cared that I came “all that way from Connecticut.” Well, okay, two people did. Mostly, people were too busy trying to connect with the best connections, yours truly included.

The ride back was quick as my companion, Robin Towle-Fecso from JumpStart Creative, and I had a lot to chat about. Next week is Tech Cocktail. I’m up for the drive all the way from Connecticut, ludicrous gas prices and all. Bring it on Boston.

Every time I attend WebInno in Boston, I get the same question: “you came here ‘all that way’ from Connecticut?”

Honestly, is an hour and a half really “all that way”? I realize Boston is not exactly in my backyard but the mini-schlepp is definitely worth the trip. I like to think of The Web Innovators Group as the best geekpreneur sock hop on the East Coast. One Tuesday evening per month start-ups and techie guys and gals with ecomm and weberactive ideas court VCs and funders. We sip cocktails, watch demos and chat each other up with our best elevators.

As a writer and marketing message maven, I attend for very selfish reasons. The first is to have cool stuff to write about. The second is to have cool stuff to share with my clients. I could Google all day long to find out what new soc media or ecomm ventures are kicking up but, until you talk with the creators, you can’t really get a sense of how trends are shifting. Not being a techie, what seems new and fresh to me is old hat to a developer. I constantly feel like I’m behind the curve. I hate that. But feeling behind the curve is not all bad because it constantly drives me to learn something new every day.

I’ve met some sharp onliners at WebInno that I’m looking forward to checking in with, particularly Mark Doerschlag with MarksGuide, who just launched sites for NYC, Seattle and more, Kevin Gardner who runs the cool online music collab site Tune Rooms and Chris Keller from Fafarazzi, a fun soc net site that is like fantasy celeb sport meets The Onion. These guys have weathered the storm so far and have proven that they have the right combo of good idea + positioning + audience to pull it off.

Another reason I attend is to share ideas (to anyone who will listen) from the marketing and business perspective. Developers and programmers have a tendency to work within their world and focus on the “it”: what does “it” do, how does “it” look and where will “it” take the next wave of online cool? These are all very important “its.” The one I find missing a lot, however, is this: why are we doing “it”?

Asking why forces you to think beyond the immediate application and ten steps ahead to the possibilities of multiple apps. I sense that geeks and techies are getting wise to this, now that start-ups are transforming from dorm room innovation to dedicated career path.

If I could make one forecast for trends we’ll see on Tuesday night, it is this: hyperlocal. It’s a safe prediction, considering the pretty long list of new tools and apps for people to make online and offline connections for business and hobbies alike.

More importantly than trends, however, I’ll be paying uber close attention to conversations. It’s been a while since I attended a WebInno. Last time I attended I met the spectrum of smarties, from genius kids who were green in the ways of business to sharp-eyed suits who could use a little less business in their business.

Either way, I’ll be counting the times I hear, “You came ‘all that way’ from Connecticut?” So, let’s make another forecast. I predict that I’ll hear that question at least 4.5 times. More or less.

Hope to see you there! To check out the attendee list, go to the Eventbrite site for WebInno.

Right now I’m driving back to my little house in CT from the Geezeo ZoomInfo Compete + sponsored Tech Cocktail event in Bostonian MA. Cool event. Probably 500+ folks chatting, drinking, hanging.

This is the type of event that I like. Nothing planned except for a few fun events - particularly, a raffle coordinated with a money machine (fitting for Geezeo) where folks had to enter a booth and grab as much fake money as possible as it blew around their heads. I totally rocked this game (which didn’t matter because you didn’t win anything except for the chance to drop your biz card into the raffle - blah) but my strategy was killer. I’d tell you but then if we ever were to encounter each other at another geek networking event with a money-blowing-around-your-head machine competition, you’d totally trump me. Not cool. A Wii, of course, was also present. First time playing a Wii for me and I totally stink so it will probably be the last. There were probably a few other things that I didn’t pay much attention to. I was too busy chatting folks up.

At the bar I ran into Mark from MarksGuide, a guy my buddy Matt has been trying to connect me with for sometime. He has an awesome concept for a hyperlocal, biz event happening site and I’ve already got some great ideas for how he can build up some excitement and get some Craig’s List type hype. I also had several fabulous conversations with Jill from Fashion Public. Her mission is to get boutique fashion directly into the hands of fashionistas. Another awesome concept. Jill is currently in the fund gathering stage. If there’s anyone out there that would like to invest in a sure-fire hit company, please contact Jill and give her your money. I’d love to work with her and the funds will make this happen. Thanks.

I also ran into BzzAgent reps. BzzAgent and I go way back. Pete from Geezeo will tell you that I told him about BzzAgent like four years ago. It was great to meet the folks face-to-face. Awesome WOM company and I’m excited to learn more about their new Frog Pond adventure. I haven’t participated in one of their campaigns in a while but I will be sure to hook up with one ASAP.

Honestly, if every conference and seminar out there was replaced with a straight out networking event, I think they’d be 30% more successful. Maybe even 38%. It’s the right environment to make things happen - people hanging out, talking, getting to know each other. It just makes sense. Thanks TechCocktail funders - looking forward to the next one.

The latest thing in networking and working, if you haven’t heard, is Jelly. Started by Amit Gupta of ChangeThis and BarCamp fame, Jelly-type gatherings bring solo entreprenuers and freelancers together to work out of somone’s home once a week or whenever. The result is a mutt environment of social hanging out, idea storming and actual working - all sans office politics.

Jelly is the hippie, laidback sister-in-law to the evergrowing Coworking trend where independents pay to come and go at jointly-funded office space. A local example of this is Betahouse in Boston. From what I’ve heard, the slots are for established techies versus just-starting-outs. A colleague of mine is dying to get in to Betahouse because of the networking potential. I’m sure Betahouse serves its renters well but the whole concept of how this developed intrigues me. I am always fascinated by how trends take shape and sometimes morph into the very thing they were getting away from. In this case, one of the goals of creating non-traditional work spaces through Coworking was to stave off office politics and create an open environment. Betahouse only has so many desks (12, I believe). It makes sense that they would limit those slots to folks that would most benefit from working in close quarters, but by channeling the networking, has an environment of exclusivity been created, similar to those found in traditional office politics? This isn’t a rhetorical question, I’m really asking. If anyone in Betahouse or any other Coworking space stumbles on this post, I’d like your thoughts.

Note that I have no idea if someone would be turned away from Betahouse if they didn’t fit the typical characteristics of that crowd - and, if they did, so be it. They have every right to do whatever they want with their rental space. I just find the evolution of certain types of social networking intriguing. No matter how organic an idea begins, it’s bound to get formalized. Rules follow, opinions clash and pretty soon bloggers like me start jumping all over it.

Pals of mine recently started a Jelly in Connecticut, Jam At Work, and so far I’ve only attended one afternoon. I liked it - I actually did get some work done and had a few laughs in the process. I’m sure I’ll return in the future. I doubt, however, that I will rent a coworking space anytime soon but I won’t discount it down the road.

I could start a jam or jelly or preserves of my own. Of course, this would require me to keep my dining room table free of papers, coffee mugs and random items that seem to crawl up out of nowhere. On second thought, I’ll preserve my workspace and keep the jelly in the fridge.