The ITEN Wired Summit last week in Pensacola brought tech companies and tech workers and tech lovers together for about 36 hours. Almost 300 people who attended the event, which was the eleventh edition of the summit in the past eight years. Jim Rhodes, the chair of the ITEN Wired Planning Committee says this years edition was one of the most diverse, encompassing all aspects of business technology. He credits the members of his planning group.
The summit kicked off Thursday night with an opening reception at the national Flight Academy where attendees got to mingle with each other, hear from some speakers and try out the academy's flight simulator.
On Friday, the main day of the summit, people filled the Hilton on Pensacola Beach hearing from speakers in different break out groups and talking to tech companies who had set up exhibits in the hotel. Adam Schrock from AppRiver in Gulf Breeze enjoyed talking with the summit goers saying he was "very impressed with the diversity of the attendees, the students as well."
In fact it was the number of students that got a lot of the exhibitors excited. Peg David, a senior advisor with H2 Performance Consulting said the large number of students from the University of West Florida had a chance to learn about local tech businesses and employment opportunities, especially if they want to stay in Pensacola.
One of the highlights of the day was an engaging address by Brigadier General Gregory Touhill from the Department of Homeland Security. The general spoke during lunch and used colorful, entertaining stories to get across important information about cybersecurity saying that homeland security begins with hometown security. At the end of the day most everyone declared the summit a success and, according to the planning committee's Jim Rhodes, started thinking about next year.
