ad:tech and to a lesser extent OMMA are THE Internet marketing summits each year and this week I had a chance to stop by the one in New York.  Unfortunately The Man had me pushing papers and cleaning up other people's messes all week so I only had a few hours to walk the floor.  Here are some observations:

A little less T&A – believe it or not this is one of those few contexts where that's a good thing.  The person I want to run into at a booth at ad:tech is short, scrawny, has a pocket protector, Coke bottle glasses and a foreign accent.  Why?  Because unlike bleach blond D cup the only thing that guy has going for him is his mind and ideas.  Verdict, geek population up, bimbo population down.

#2 celebrity that I ran into, Joseph Jaffe.  He has a new gig with Crayonville, which admittedly I don't totally get but it seems to be creative and cool, so check it out.  If you don't know who he is, his face is on the Mount Rushmore of Internet marketing, so get familiar.

#1 celeb. Lesko.  Yes, this freak, standing in line next to me like a complete tool (much like myself) waiting to pick up his badge at registration.

Google and Ask where there but didn't see MSN and Yahoo!.  This is relatively shocking since one would think they could use the exposure and they have some new stuff to talk about.  For the record, I'm pulling for Ask in a Little Engine That Could kind of way.

Some of my fav vendors that were there, had some good stuff to stay and you should be aware of.

Did-it – paid search agency extrodinare

iProspect – one of the top natural search firms on earth

BlackFoot – business intelligence and analytics

SEMPO – search engine marketing professional organization

WebMasterRadio – producers of tons of awesome Internet marketing podcasts