"We want to produce a show for New Zealand that inspires the business community and the public around telecommunications and how technology can transform our businesses, lives and society. We want it big and bold – involving thousands of people. We want it to engage across New Zealand and involve a wide range of communities."

This was the request from the TIG board back in July 2009 when I started and having never run an event before I agreed, wrote it all down and said yes – naivety is the most powerful enabler.

I assembled a great team from Events Direct, Republik and ONZL, and sought the help of a core of sponsors: HP, Microsoft, Telecom, TVNZ and Vodafone and a host of others from a wide range of New Zealand telco, media and web businesses. These talented, committed people helped me build and then execute our first Telecommunications Show for New Zealand on March 12th and 13th.

A partial list of the achievements of Planet 2010 includes:

• National Schools Challenge: we ran a competition that involved over 200 primary, intermediate and secondary schools – from Ruawai Primary, Dargaville to Waimahaka School, Invercargill, and as far east as Pitt Island School, not forgetting some great entries from Correspondence and Home Schoolers.

• Launch Pad, a competition to find New Zealand’s best startup company for 2010 and provide funding and support to grow that company into a world beater.

• Bringing the industry together to promote our industry and involve 3000+ of the public in understanding what is possible. Running the Business day with 600+ businesses throughout a packed day on March 12th.

• Delivering a great expo with around 30 companies showcasing fabulous international and NZ technology, ranging from rural solutions to imaging, to mobile computer graphics.

• Achieving an unprecedented level of media coverage across print, web, radio and TV on the positive contribution of our industry to New Zealand

• And finally, on Saturday March 13th, giving just over 2000 men, women and children the opportunity to hear and be inspired by Buzz Aldrin – one of the 20th Century’s greatest heroes. Buzz’s story captured and thrilled all with his commitment to the future and the next stage of exploration – the settlement of Mars – set an audacious goal that took everyone’s breath away. Buzz helped us all realise that while today’s issues are important they are worth little unless we can imagine, set goals and achieve the significant steps forward that inspire all.

As an example of the show’s success, the Telecommunications Commissioner Ross Patterson had this to say: "I thoroughly enjoyed Buzz Aldrin’s keynote address, and found the presentations and exhibits interesting and relevant. The conference was a credit to the industry as a whole, and demonstrated a level of maturity and professionalism that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. "

The next question is where we take Planet from here – we specifically created the name to build a brand and an expectation.

Planet 2011 will step up a level, do more, begin with and grow on the 600 businesses and 3000 public who attended and loved Planet 2010. It will increase the scale of the exhibition and evolve the content; we will also look at how we take the show online and engage with wider New Zealand rather than just one or two centres.

Finally, a big thank you from my board and I to all of you who took part either as sponsor, exhibitor, business day or public day attendee – great to have your support in creating this showcase. I look forward to inspiring you at Planet 2011.