WPC 2014... By the numbers

Wandering around the baking hot streets of Washington D.C., it's easy to detect a certain buzz in the air.

As streams and streams of the world's tech community flock to the Convention Centre, this first-timer took a second to sit back, let the herds pass and assess the impact of WPC 2014.

The not so shocking stat? Well, that's easy, some 16,000 attendees are in the nation's capital - although from Day 1 you'd be forgiven for thinking the entire city has been took over.

Of the 16,000 plus attendees this week, some 3,500 are first-timers, easily spotted as those starry-eyed conference virgins meandering through the convention corridors in sheer awe at the well-oiled machine in flow around them.

Through WPC Connect, the online networking service, over 8,000 meetings have already been scheduled, with over 140 country representatives thrashing out deals and making invaluable connections.

Around the city, 45 hotels have been contracted to host the guest list, with three core venues in use through out the week - including the Walter E. Washington Convention Centre, Verizon Centre and the Marriot Marquis.

Check back to TechDay.com through out the week for first-hand Kiwi analysis of the first day of action.