For the price of free, someone wandering through the Connecticut Convention Center yesterday was able to score free tickets to a New Britain Rock Cats game, lip balm, pens, bottle openers, candy, Panera food samples, coupons for Moe’s Southwest Grill, and entrance to a number of seminars. Among the seminars: “Optimizing Your PR for Social Media and the Web,” “Using Linkedin to Prospect and Connect,” “How to Get Started in Social Media,” and “Power Past Your Competition: How to Harness the Tools of Social Media to Succeed.” Any guess at what the buzzword of the day was?

I spoke briefly with the Adriaen’s Landing folks, inquiring about the progress of Front Street. They said that a major announcement should be made in August. When asked who has signed on for the new development, they did not indicate that there were any definite takers, except that ESPN has shown a real interest in opening what sounds like a sports bar.