New York - Technology bloggers Michael Arrington (TechCrunch) and Jason Calcanis (Weblogs, Inc.) have announced plans to launch a new DEMO-style conference where companies will pitch new products and services -- without paying to participate.

"Many of the hottest startups over the past couple of years -- Digg, YouTube, StumbleUpon and many others -- didn't have the money in the early days to spend on DEMO and other conferences, and so they didn't participate," Arrington wrote on TechCrunch. "We want to give the future YouTube's a platform to announce those products."

The TechCrunch 20 Conference will be a two-day event profiling 20 companies, which will be invited based on recommendations from "a committee of expert analysts, entrepreneurs and journalists."

Arrington said further details on date and location will be announced soon.

Related Links:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/31/the-techcrunch20-conference
http://tinyurl.com/2ubg6f (Jason Calcanis weblog)
http://gigaom.com/2007/01/29/demo-2007
http://www.demo.com/conferences/demo07.php