Pulver Expands Portfolio of Events
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 10/17/2005
Pulver.com's lineup of events will have a few additions next year. Buoyed by expectations that Internet phones' popularity will spread around the world, the company is launching new shows in Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Ukraine.
The Melville, N.Y.-based Pulver.com has been producing conferences aimed at educating audiences about voice over Internet protocol for nearly a decade. Its most established brand is VON, short for "voice over the Net."
Spring VON, set for next March 14–17 at the San Jose (Calif.) McEnery Convention Center, this year drew about 6,500 attendees. Fall VON, held Sept. 19–22 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, attracted 8,200 attendees and 325 exhibitors, said Jason Chudnofsky, who was hired in March as CEO of Pulver.com's events division. Fall VON, one of this year's Tradeshow Week Fastest 50 winners, is set to return to the BCEC next Sept. 11–14.
In addition to the spring and fall events, this year's VON lineup included Voice on the Net Canada in Toronto in April, and Spring VON Europe in May in Stockholm.
Pulver.com also produces the one-day Consumer VOIP Summit at Intl. CES, and hopes to draw 3,000 attendees and 125 exhibitors to the Rio Hotel & Convention Center in Las Vegas Nov. 14–16 for the inaugural IP-4-IT, a show Pulver.com is producing with CMP Media and the Telecommunications Industry Assn.
Dates are set for only some of next year's additions. VON Mexico is scheduled Feb. 14–17 in Mexico City, VON Russia May 10–13 in Moscow, VON UK June 12–14 in London, VON Japan July 19–21 in Tokyo and Autumn VON Europe Nov. 6–9 in Berlin. Dates and venues are still being finalized for the VON events in Israel and the Ukraine.
The launches don't stop with the VON brand. Pulver.com will hold an IP Communications Executive Summit Jan. 15–17 during the Pacific Telecommunications Council's annual meeting in Honolulu. A similar executive summit is also being planned for Atlanta, Chudnofsky said.
Yet another conference, called the Peripheral Visionaries IP Communications Summit, is scheduled Nov. 10, 2006, in Washington, D.C. Chudnofsky said he is working to produce a developers conference with Skype, a Luxembourg Internet phone company that eBay acquired for $2.6 billion last month.
A former COMDEX executive, Chudnofsky said he is working long hours and doing a lot of traveling. "I feel like someone who's been handed a smorgasbord and hasn't eaten in a week," he said.
All the expansion has necessitated hiring seven event professionals. Among them are former CeBIT America executive Bill Sell, who was named vice president of business development; and Chris Erb, formerly with conference producer DCI, who was appointed vice president of sales.
