Are you really my friend? Meet me at ISC West!

It's a rainy, chilly March Sunday in Maine, and a perfect way to escape the gray weather is enjoying the beautiful artwork at the Portland Museum of Art. One exhibit currently on display there got me thinking about my trip this week to sunny, warm Las Vegas for the ISC West show … and how the show is such a good opportunity to connect with people.

The exhibit is by Maine photographer Tanja Alexia Hollander, titled: “Are You Really My Friend?” Hollander set out to reach beyond cyberspace by traveling around the world to meet her Facebook friends—she has more than 600 of them. She created photographic portraits of her cyber-friends that are now on display in the museum.

The exhibit got me thinking about how many of you in the industry I feel I know because we talk on the phone and email and tweet to one another. But in many cases, we've never met.

So, I'm looking forward to meeting many of my cyber-friends in the security industry in person while I'm at ISC West. I've scheduled the three days I'll be at the show full of booth visits, interviews, lunches and dinners.

And I'm also excited about meeting even more cyber-friends at our “Meet the Editors” hour that we at Security Systems News and Security Director News (our sister publication) have scheduled for Wed., March 28, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. We've been urging everyone to start their  ISC West show by stopping by the ISC West Media Studio (booth # 27065).

And please also swing by our booth at other times to grab a copy of Security Systems News and catch up on the latest industry happenings, and to say hello to our staff. Break through the bonds of cyberspace and meet me and my colleagues!