The reason I was in New York (other than to visit Death & Company) was to be on the program committee for the Web 2.0 Expo conference in NYC. Between now and then I’ll be reviewing submissions for talks and trying to convince people I know to attend so I’m not standing around awkwardly a lot.
What I learned from the experience is that there are two ways to get on a conference program committee: found multiple successful web startups by your mid-30’s, or to go to high school with the conference chair.