Given the tough year the tech space had struggled through, we’re always looking for positive signals — and we saw one last week as the DEMO bandwagon rolled through Boston. A few weeks ago I blogged about DEMOfall 09 and the interesting companies that launched there — and about plans for DEMOspring 2010. The folks behind DEMO — Matt Marshall, Neal Silverman and company — have already kicked off a roadshow aimed at connecting with the next bunch of DEMO companies — and Boston was a first stop, last Thursday evening. This meet-up included past DEMO alumni attendees, demonstrators and local entrepreneurs and VCs — and the energy around the room and the quality of folks on-hand was the “positive sign” I mentioned earlier. If this is any indication of what 2010 holds — for DEMO and for the tech community in general — things are definitely looking up for next year.

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The recession is over?

That’s what pundits and economists have been saying for the past few weeks. It began with a few whispers, now it’s a full throated rallying cry.

PR and marketing are often the first to suffer cut backs and the last to feel the benefits of the recovery – kind of like the unemployment rate which continues to rise – so we tend to keep our exuberance in check at these times.

Skepticism aside, we are beginning to see some glimmers of hope with new business opportunities, especially at the end of Q3 and right now early in Q4. Like everyone else we’re working harder than ever and keeping our fingers crossed, hoping for the recovery to take a firm hold.

Today’s Ad Age article by Brian Steinberg offers some statistical and anecdotal evidence that brighter horizons may be in store for the media and advertising industries as well. Definitely worth checking out to fuel all of our hopes for a positive finish to this year and better days in 2010.

What’s your take on the outlook for your business and industry?

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It’s been a busy month of travel to tech events, focused on everything from cloud computing to technology for the waste management. These travels began with the aforementioned trek to San Diego for DEMO (see my posts below) and a side-trip north to WasteCon to connect up with Topaz Evans Cooling (showing off advanced cooling systems that can cut fuel costs for waste management vehicles). Two weeks later it was back to San Diego, this time for CTIA where Topaz clients Acision and Novarra were busy meeting with media and analysts. As in past years, this show spotlighted some very cool new technologies including Acision’s industry-leading mobile messaging offerings and Novarra’s mobile browsing technology. Next was a quick stop atOracle Open World in SF, attended by Topaz client Navisite. And finally, I touched down in Phoenix for Storage Networking World, where topics like cloud computing, virtualization, green IT and many other of today’s hottest tech topics were discussed in what remains one of the best IT networking events (Topaz helped with the media and analyst management for this conference). All of this speaks to the amazing diversity of technology Team Topaz is involved in — and we hope the buzz at these events points to positive times ahead for tech companies.

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