Showing off our startups at TLC 2008

About 400 people are expected to attend the 2008 Technology Leadership Conference this Thursday at Bingemans in Kitchener. Along with being one of the top events of the year for the local tech community, the conference has become the place where you can see some of the top startup companies from the area as they present their companies at the Tech Expo in the main hall.

Exhibitors this year are AideRSS, LoyaltyMatch, Semacode, Tungle, Well.ca, Smartpatterns, Something On, Client Outlook, Aeryon Labs, Ghoti Studios, T-Ray Science, and FOSS Factory. ProductWiki, SuitedMedia, and Crez had tables at last year's event and are expected to be among the attendees this time, as are Primal Fusion and Metranome.

It's great to be able to show off our startups to the community and guests from out of town. Two years ago, I had trouble coming up with more than a handful of names but since then we've had no trouble filling all the available tables. With companies like Primal Fusion, Metranome, ParkVu and Avvasi expected to launch their first products in the coming months, next year's Tech Expo will be another one to look forward to.

Keynote speakers this year are Chris Anderson, editor of WIRED and author of The Long Tail, Chris Sacca, blogger and investor -- 1,800+ Twitter followers -- formerly with Google, and Jeff Taylor, founder and former CEO of Monster. Noted VC and blogger Rick Segal will also be speaking as part of a panel. Should be a great day.