This week's TDWI Spring World Conference is a bustling hubbub of all things data! With almost 700 attendees here, one wonders how many Moms were stood up on Sunday by their kids en route to Chicago to hear about new trends in advanced analytics, BI tools, and yes, data warehouse appliances.

I taught my BI from Both Sides class on Sunday (sorry, Mom!); hung out with clients and did vendor briefings on Monday; caught a snippet of Cindi Howson's outstanding BI tools class and did some podcasts for our friends at BI Network yesterday; and then went and did a book signing with Evan on the exhibit floor. I wound my way over to the Netezza booth to say hi and try to score a free pen only to confront a pretty hefty crowd intent on hearing about the Performance Server appliance. The Netezza folks were on their toes.

So notwithstanding their crestfallen mothers, TDWI's attendees are in the thick of it. Perhaps in savvy anticipation of the fervor on the show floor, Netezza is giving away Bose QuietComfort 2Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones to some lucky visitors. I suggest that the winners hand the headphones directly over to Mom.