Last night

(By Richard Holway 9.30am Tuesday 22nd Sept 09) Last night I gave my "State of the ICT Nation" speech for the Prince's Trust Technology Leadership Group at BT Tower. Because of the BT sponsorship, and the ticket price of £1250, the event raised a record £65,000.

I posted a full summary of Even the Bad Times are Good on Hotviews yesterday. A copy of the deck is available for our clients if you email prajah@techmarketview.com - Puni will also be delighted to tell you how you too can join our growing band of clients with full access to all TechMarketView research.

It was also good to see so many avid HotViews readers (and quite a few of our paying subscribers too). We must have the highest penetration of any such service at the highest CEO level in our sector. Busy CEOs are very selective in their reading matter - so even better when they choose us. Something of which I and the TechMarketView LLP team are justly proud. But the downside is that the audience tends to be well aware of your views even before you open your mouth! Always makes me a bit nervous when I 'criticise' BT, Microsoft etal in front of their CEOs! But, in a way, that's what makes these evenings so 'special'. The conversational buzz around the dinner tables was electric! I could write another dozen Hotviews posts on the comments made - except nobody would ever talk to me again if I did! But I'm sure they will work their way into future posts in some anonymous manner.

Finally a BIG THANKYOU to Jamie Webb from the Prince's Trust and all his team, as well as Adam Hale (Chairman of the Technology Leadership Group) and the committee for all their hard work in making the evening so special.