All of the cPanel staff have safely returned from another round of engagements at HostingCon 2012 and we wanted to spend some time providing those that did not attend a quick recap of the show.

A huge and heart warming thank you to everyone that stopped by to share our grief at the loss of David Grega. It’s been tough couple weeks at cPanel and getting together with friends in Boston helped me understand that you can make a difference in the world and that we are more than just a business industry; we are a group of people that truly care about each others lives. iNET Interactive went out of their way to write us each notes and delivered a gift basket with David Grega’s last HostingCon badge. PingZine ran a special memorial in our upcoming issue. Hundreds of colleagues provided hugs, thoughtful praise, and helped us remember David in positive ways.

I didn’t personally attend many of the presentations, but in talking one on one with many attendees, I heard they stepped it up a notch in relation to providing educational-based content for hosting providers. As a member of the Advisory board, this is definitely something a handful of us really wanted to see, and HostingCon made some great directional changes.

We heard traffic was slow and that it was a result of the 1,000 or so HostingCon attendees that took advantage of the little shindig we put together. It is certainly a great compliment to hear our event was a success, that people had fun, and that SoftLayer, Comcure and cPanel could provide some nice entertainment for the event.

Booth traffic and visits were good for cPanel and our goal of talking with integrators, partners, and customers that use our product was a huge success. If you enjoyed talking with us, make sure you check out cPanel Conference ’12 for even more engagement. Our conference boasts similar parties and it is an excellent opportunity to mingle with our staff on multiple levels.

If you missed our training, be assured that it will return in full force at our annual conference. While doing the cPanel University testing at HostingCon, one of our largest partners LiquidWeb had an employee score 100% of cPanel Base Certification::Technical. Our Professors noted that this might be the first perfect score, even after employee testing.

Finally, let’s talk about my most interesting conversation of the show and a conversation you should be having internally.

You might remember the Save Hosting Coalition. It’s been rebranded and is now dubbed the i2coalition.

Christian Dawson still leads the effort and had this to say about it.

Save Hosting Coalition was a loose group of volunteers within our industry who wrote letters, called, tweeted, beat the streets on Capitol Hill and did whatever we could to stop PIPA & SOPA. There wasn’t any real organization behind it, and there certainly wasn’t any money.

The i2C is a full-fledged trade association, designed to identify the threats we will be facing next and organizing in a structured way to address them. Its focuses are narrow but still way broader than Save Hosting – it focuses on doing what it takes to use the power of all the companies who come on board and sign up as members to make sure that we see positive things happen to this industry, and fight to avoid negative ones.

We found we were able to pull together and make a difference on one fight without real money and organization, but we got lucky. Threats against our industry are coming back more mobilized and more organized, so we need to too.

You might be thinking that there is little one can do to help shape legislation, political movements, and new laws that will have an impact on this industry, but don’t fool yourself. Movements like this need support of organizations just like yours. If there is one takeaway from HostingCon, it is to check them out, ask them questions, and join the cause to help make sure companies like ours have a voice.

I am stepping down from the soapbox right now, do the right thing, call and talk with them, tell your CEO it is important and show your support. If they pull off one small change it could help save your organization time, money, and a lot of grief we all want to avoid.