Today it was announced that my good friend Matt Marshall is taking over the executive producer position for the DEMO conference.

We all owe Chris Shipley a debt of gratitude for producing on of the best emerging technology events for the last 13 years. She has been tireless in her efforts and year over year she exposed exciting new companies in a format that valued substance over spin.

The audience played a big role in this, as anyone who has presented at DEMO will tell you, they could quickly humble very smart people who failed to hit the mark. Chris played a large role in this as well, ensuring that the audience didn’t just include anyone who bought a ticket but rather had a diverse collection of participants who brought real energy to the conference.

The fact remains that while many conferences and events feature emerging startups, the measuring stick that they stand against is the one set by DEMO.

Chris is a fantastically sincere and genuinely nice person who always remembers your name and has a warm smile to greet you, I have enjoyed every opportunity I have had to meet her and look forward to what she will do next.