The industry is alive and kicking!

It was great news to hear that the attendees to this year's Technology for Marketing & Advertising were up 10% over 2009. There were long faces and, in some cases, low enthusiasm at last year's event and more worrying still, the numbers seemed to really tail off in the second day - not a good sign for the event or the industry at large.

Tellingly, quite a number of attendees I spoke with were 'in between jobs', visiting the show in the hope that work could be solicited at one of the stalls.

What a contrast to TFM&A 2010! Not only were the exhibition floor and the keynote theatres at capacity, but there was a real air of excitement around Earls Court. I've already detailed some of the talk that was taking place on the floor, so I'll not bore you with repetition, but suffice to say that the spring was back in the step of the vendors and attendees that I spoke to (and many thanks to those of you who spared some time to talk with me!)

The reason for this turnaround? Certainly the general feeling was that after all the belt-tightening of the last 12 months, things are beginning to pick up. And in the case of the vendors, some have used the recession as a time to innovate - with the social media boom providing particular source of inspirations. You only needed to look at the line-up of keynote presentations to gauge just how much emphasis is being placed on social media by the marketing/technology sector as we move into a new decade, with Facebook and YouTube both featuring prominently in the schedule.

Developments in mobile are also gathering pace and while it only merited one keynote presentation at this year's event - courtesy of Google - judging by the mobile innovations and applications taking place, and the discussion about mobile on the exhibition floor, it will have a bigger slice of the spotlight next year. The impact of the iPhone, it would seem, has forced many to rethink their timescales re mobile.

Finally, thanks to all of you who came to visit the MyCustomer.com stand - it was great to meet you and I hope to see you at next year's TFM&A, when hopefully the enthusiasm and numbers will have been ratcheted up yet another notch.