There are over 175 people registered. I’m looking forward to hearing Jeff Pulver, Jeff Jarvis, Chris Brogan, David Kirkpatrick, Gary Vaynerchuk and all the other speakers cover all aspects of the social communications landscape.

Hey, it’s not too late to register – it will be worth it!

I’m also excited to be one of the 25 tweeters on the official SocComm Twitter Team: Follow us on Twitter #SocComm to get the latest updates and impressions from the event! FYI – Us tweeters will wearing blue wrist bands.

You can also follow me on Twitter at yasminbendor.

If you are going to be there, I would love to meet you – pwease tweet me!

See the new updated Agenda with a fantastic line of speakers and topics.

Sandra Fathi, President of Affect Strategies, will be talking with Rob Key from Converseon on “Social Media & Multiple Personality Disorder” from 4:00-4:25.

And I will be part of the SocComm “twitter team”: A dedicated group of people in the audience sharing content on Twitter so that the “Social Communications revolution will be seen on Twitter” – 140 characters at a time.

Follow me on Twitter: @yasminbendror

Also, get $50 off registration: Use coupon code ‘affectstrategies’

Hope to see you there, or follow the tweets…

Jeff’s accomplishments are too long to list here but a few highlights include pioneering the voice over IP industry (VoIP) and co-founding Vonage.  Since I like numbers, here are a few interesting ones – he’s invested in 17 start-ups (or maybe more, he can’t remember exactly how many) in the last few years, held 33 breakfast meetings in 17 cities in the past 12 months and met with approximately 30-40 companies (well, sometimes a guy with an idea) in each city to hear their pitch.

According to Jeff, he usually knows within 3 minutes if he’s going to invest. He’s not your typical VC. He detests PPT and thinks that if you have a business plan, you are probably going to fail. (Okay, slightly exaggerated but he thinks that the business plan mind-set may limit your innovation and creativity. And, of course, all of the forecasts of revenue are bull@#$! anyway.) He invests from his gut – looking for people who are passionate, have a great team and a relentless drive. Yes, a good idea is also important, and it helps to be an incredible engineer as well as a visionary, but he doesn’t always find that nicely bundled. He does want companies to have an exit strategy before they even start (otherwise, he “might be dead before the exit, and what’s the point of that?”)

On Jeff’s love for Israeli start-ups, he thinks there is something in the DNA that gives them a special energy, fervor, creativity and work ethic. In his experience, the persistence and the sheer determination to accomplish a goal is more present with Israeli entrepreneurs than other start-ups that he has invested in State-side. No fear is also a factor – and to start a business, at anytime, fear will paralyze and probably stop you dead in your tracks.

On a personal note, Jeff mentioned that he was ‘fortunate’ enough to lose his job in 1996 – he had been working at Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial services firm that was devastated by the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 employees who worked in their offices at One World Trade Center. Jeff credits losing his job with saving his life and allowing him to embark on a journey to follow his passions – which have led him to incredible success. Hopefully, others that find themselves in similar situations in this economy and will emerge as successful and fulfilled as Jeff.

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