I appreciate all of the feedback - this blog has elicited more responses than the one about Brett Favre!

This event has transformed, and continues to transform, to both mirror the market dynamics, but also the event dynamics nationally. It’s not a surprise that one reader found the event to be very different than what he experienced 8 years ago - the event certainly has changed. Since that time ISC East has moved from THE international ISC - to the northeast regions ISC; the largest event serving this market. The international kick-off to the security calendar has now become ISC West, which has grown to 2+ times the size that we remember ISC East to be in the 1990's, and continues to grow annually.

What ISC East is about now is business; the people responsible for security in the northeast and those people looking to do business with them. It is the highest concentration of security professionals in the northeast, with the interest and buying power for the latest in products and technologies to meet their needs. The majority of the security professionals at ISC East do not attend ISC West, and still see ISC East as vitally important to them - as evident by some of the postings above.

But we continue to work to ensure the value of ISC East and some of the changes you will see around ISC East will in fact reflect certifications and training, as we partner with more of the industry's leading educators. We were very excited to have the PSA Network providing systems integrator training at this year's event, as well as Government Security News providing targeted content for government security professionals. In 2010 you will see greater use of video, twitter (and the continuation of this blog) in discussing and eliciting feedback around the events.

But increasing the value can’t happen unless we continue to hear from you. Keep telling us what you think.

Ed