VoiceCon vs. VONx

The two competing conferences this week, United Business Media's VoiceCon in Florida and Pulver Media's VONx, reflect some of the industry trends at play. VON has always been an evangelist's conference driven by the celebrity power of Jeff Pulver and his acolytes. Quirky but interesting, VON  has struggled to find buzz in recent years as VoIP has become more and more plumbing like. The attempt this year to broaden VON beyond its VoIP heritage with the new VONx brand is an admission the show needed a new direction. But the lack of top-line speakers suggests the show is struggling to maintain its place in a crowded trade show calendar.

In contrast VoiceCon is positioned as an enterprise unified communications conference and is riding the enormous interest and dollars now associated with that space. UBM's newly created Techweb division is putting on the show at a time when UC is undeniably the hot topic of 2008 in the voice world. Former VP and Nobel laureate Al Gore is speaking and the conference is unashamedly corporate and mainstream. With the big IT and carrier vendors all pushing to get their voices heard in this converged market, VoiceCon finds itself at the right place at the right time.

For more:
- VoiceCon's speaker program [1]
- VONx program [2]

Related articles:
VON chases the UC market Article [3] 
IBM ups the ante in UC battle Article [4]