Just a quick column today. The frenzy of deadline for the Summer Issue and having AD:TECH05 in town has me a little more wound up than usual. And that’s saying something.

I made it over to the conference just in time for lunch yesterday. Hey, I’ve got to eat. Anyway, the conference center was jam packed. Everyone was buzzing about the size of the show – it’s more than doubled since last year. About 5,000 people are expected to attend this week.

Many of the attendees I spoke with had been coming to the show for years were more than upbeat about the growth. Many also noted that about three years ago, the show was so small they feared it was on the verge of extinction. That’s clearly not the case.

It seems that online advertising has been resuscitated. As I passed throngs of people chatting in the corridors, there was lots of talk about search, keywords, email, lead generation, blogs, RSS and contextual ads. My ears were constantly perked up.

Unfortunately, this was a drive-by day for me. I was only there to attend one session on affiliate marketing and have a pair of quick meetings with companies in the affiliate space. I only had time for a quick lap around the show floor, which means I probably missed some good swag.

I wish I could have stayed longer and heard more about what’s on the mind of online marketers, but I’ll be stopping in again today and Wednesday.

I also missed Monday’s keynotes by John Costello, Executive Vice President, Merchandising and Marketing for The Home Depot and legendary Morgan Stanley research analyst Mary Meeker. But the handful of people that discussed the keynotes with me said one was like a commercial for The Home Depot, the other was filled with interesting statistics. I’ll let you figure out which was which.

A handful of interesting announcements were also made at the show. I’ll sift through them during the week and try to give you a more comprehensive and coherent update at a later date.

If you’re at AD:TECH and want to relay any interesting information to me you, please do. I can’t be everywhere, so I’m counting on you to fill me in.