I will provide a detailed weblog entry on this year's Buying and Selling eContent event later today, but first the outlines of what has thus far been an excellent conference. This year's edition of Information Today's premier event for the content industry attracted a great range of senior executives from the online and institutional publishing and media camps, with about half of the attendees new to BSeC and about a third returnees from multiple earlier events. While there were contextually appropriate technologists in plenty, for the most part there are very few "fish out of water" this time around. About the only down side was having fewer players from the institutional "buy side", in part because of tight budgets, no doubt, but perhaps also because these institutions need to consider sending people who represent their own roles as publishers as much as their buying roles. Apart from that I'd say attendance was about even with last year. I don't know whether it was the blazing Arizona sun or the very well focused panels, but people seem to be especially relaxed and eager this year to make deals and find answers to puzzling publishing and distribution questions. To some extent the somewhat lower profile of buyers may have been helpful in this regard, as there has been less posturing and preening for valued accounts and more focus on the real issues faced by the content industry. Key points thus far: the walls really are coming tumbling down, as previewed in our 2004 forecast; vendors are working more closely than ever with their clients to come up with solutions that work within the context of their institutions' specific integration requirements. On the online side of the equation, major portal providers see clearly that there is great use of their products by individuals within the institutional space, but are still puzzling as to how best exploit these opportunities without upsetting ticklish distribution agreements.

Just a taste of the action for now, more later. If you missed this one, you missed a good one.