No, this is not a joke.

On Saturday, May 11, 2013, the Great Wall of Oakland and Walker Art Center held the very first OakCatVidFest, an Internet cat video festival in Oakland, California. According to HLN, the event, which benefited the East Bay SPCA, was the first of its kind for the area.

Considering cats have basically taken over the Internet in recent years, it's no surprise that the festival had a big turnout. All the classic cat videos you know and love were on display for seven hours (whoa!), including the one-and-only Grumpy Cat.

And apparently Japan is a gold mine for recording funny felines. Check out HLN's piece on OakCatVidFest to see some new favorites.

Sure, cats are a hoot. But more importantly, OakCatVidFest helped bring awareness to just how important fostering a feline really is.

"We are very excited to celebrate cats, bring awareness to the importance of fostering cats and kittens, and give all Bay Area cat lovers the opportunity to mingle with others who are passionate about felines," said East Bay SPCA President and CEO Allison Lindquist in a press release.

Sponsors for the event included FreshStep, Whole Food Markets and even the Animal planet, so you know there were some top-notch promotional products for pets on-hand!

Want to mingle with more than 45,000 Internet professionals? Here's your chance: Internet Week New York will take place May 20 - 27, 2013 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.

According to Beta Beat, Internet Week is "a celebration of the city’s thriving Internet industry and community." Indeed, the web drives conversation on all things pop culture. And what better place to celebrate Internet business and digital culture than New York, where some of the most exciting tech and web innovation is happening?

This year's lineup looks incredible. Speakers will include big names like Randi Zuckerberg, Joan Rivers and BuzzFeed CEO and founder Jonah Peretti. For a full list of speakers, click here.

There will also be hundreds educational sessions, panel discussions and conferences on a variety of topics, ranging from social media marketing to the Internet's impact on comedy.

Want a pass? Tickets start at just $135 a piece, which includes a $25 marketing incentive from UBER. But prices will increase after May 19, so get yours today.

It's impossible to make it to every trade show (there's literally one going on somewhere in the world every day), so your best bet is to attend the biggest and best. And now, thanks to the Trade Show News Network (TSNN), you can easily find the top trade shows for your industry!

Yesterday, TSNN officially released the 2012 Top 250 Trade Shows in the U.S. Let's take a look at the top five trade shows:

1. International CES

The Las Vegas, Nevada event had more than 3,000 exhibitors and 100,000+ attendees. Whoa! The trade show supports the $209 billion consumer electronics industry.

2. International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS)

This trade show takes place in Chicago, Illinois and saw almost as many attendees as CES in 2012. It's the biggest manufacturing technology show in the Western Hemisphere, and is a whopping six days long.

3. The January Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market

Retailers from every U.S. state and more than 80 countries around the world come together for the January Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market. Products featured include everything from home furnishings to fashion. The event is held in Atlanta, Georgia.

4. Pack Expo International

The packaging and processing industry is huge, so it's no surprise the Pack Expo International made TSNN's list of top 2012 trade shows. The show, which took place last October in Chicago, Illinois, had nearly 2,000 exhibitors in 2012.

5. The July Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market

Wow -- two Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Markets made the top five! That's pretty impressive.

Hit up these events and you're likely to go home with some truly great trade show giveaways.

For a look at TSNN's full list, click here.

If you're a promotional products professional and you're located on the East Coast, you've got to attend the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI)'s massive industry trade show.

The ASI Show is scheduled for May 8 - 9, 2013 at the Javits Center in New York City. It's a top meeting place for suppliers and distributors. 

The schedule for ASI's New York tradeshow features education programs, Counselor magazine's "HOT Party" and, of course, exhibits and trade show giveaways from some of the industry's top suppliers.

For more information on ASI New York, visit the event page here.

It's been called a "fancy science fair," but the Intel-sponsored Science Talent Search is actually a lot more like a science trade show.

According to Extreme Tech, seven of the 70-year-old event's participants have won the Nobel Prize and 11 took home MacArthur Foundation Genius grants. Now that's impressive.

This year's winner of Science Talent Search's $100,000, four-year scholarship is Sara Volz, who researched whether or not algae can be used as a cost-effective biofuel. Volz was able to pinpoint which organisms create the most fuel, and kill off algae that didn't perform as well. "The end result of her project is a process that can produce algae-based biofuel more efficiently, and if anything, stands as something of a proof-of-concept for commercially viable biofuel," Extreme Tech reports.

What Ms. Volz accomplished is nothing short of amazing. Congratulations on your eco-friendly discovery!

How do you begin to describe South by Southwest (SXSW)? First off, it's a trade show -- one of the biggest in the world -- that takes place in Austin, Texas each year. Exhibitors include everything from big media companies to small software startups.

According to its website, SXSW is broken down into three segments: interactive, film and music. This year's event began March 8 and will run through March 17.

So which music, films and technologies have stood out so far? Let's take a look:

1. Music

The music portion of SXSW has really only just started, but certain acts have already made a big impression. The Los Angeles Times raved about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' performance of "Sacrilege," the lead single off of the band's new album. Paramore also delivered a powerful performance, including the band's single out now, "Now."

Other big acts scheduled to perform this week include Green Day, Andrew W.K. and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

2. Movies

A few highly-anticipated films premiered at SXSW. MTV reports that some of the better flicks included "Evil Dead," "I Give It a Year" and "Spring Breakers," which stars Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens.

3. Tech

The technology portion of SXSW, dubbed SXSWi (interactive), officially wrapped on Tuesday. Which products made the biggest impression? According to Time, favorite items included a pair of talking shoes from Google and the MakerBot Digitizer, which allows users to scan objects to be printed in 3D. Awesome!

Oh, and of course the always-fabulous Grumpy Cat made an appearance (photo courtesy of @iansomerhalder on Twitter): 

There are lots of ways to keep on top of go green trends, from following blogs to reading your favorite eco magazine. But have you ever attended an eco-friendly trade show? If not, you might want to consider it. Exhibitors at such shows are known for showing off breakthroughs in eco-conscious living.

Ecopreneurist has compiled a list of the best eco-friendly trade shows across the globe. Let's go over their top picks:

1. Eco Expo

Set for October 28 - 31, 2013, Eco Expo Asia is the biggest environmentally-friendly conference in Asia. It will be held in Lantau, Hong Kong at the Hong Kong International Airport. Attendees will find information on air quality, green giveaways, green building and more.

2. EcoBuild

This eight-year-old trade show began this week in London, England at the ExCel Centre. Today is its final day running.

3. Eco Transport & Logistics

Scheduled for March 26 - 28, 2013, the Eco Transport & Logistics Trade Show will focus on transportation issues. The show will take place in Paris, France, and more than 100 exhibitors are expected to set up booths. Ecopreneurist notes that participating in this event is a great way to reach out internationally, as visitors come from across the globe.

Will you attend any of these top go green expos?

Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013, which took place in Barcelona, Spain, finally wrapped today after four days of learning, networking, product showcases and more. So what are the big takeaways? Let's go over some of the highlights:

1. 70,000+ visitors

This year's MWC saw a record-breaking number of attendees. According to Reuters, "The four-day conference and exhibition attracted executives from the world's largest and most influential mobile operators, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies and companies from industry sectors such as automotive, finance and healthcare, as well as government delegations from across the globe." It was the trade show's biggest event ever.

2. Products for developing countries

While there was certainly no shortage of expensive products, a new trend was seen at MWC this year. The Telegraph reports that a new Nokia phone "offers a battery that lasts for a month at just £13." That's less than $20! Furthermore, Nokia has promised to introduce smartphones at lower price points, as well.

3. A Firefox operating system

Most people are familiar with Mozilla's Firefox web browser. But at MWC, Mozilla debuted something new: An operating system (OS) that's "based completely around a browser and Web standards," reports PC Mag. While it's being released worldwide soon, the new OS won't make it to the US until 2014.

4. Smart glasses

There's been a lot of hype surrounding Google's "Project Glass" lately. During MWC, however, the spotlight was on a different glasses project. According to the Wall Street Journal, Vuzix Corporation's M100 Smart Glasses feature "a near-eye micro display with an integrated camera and powerful processor running an Android OS." The device connects wirelessly via Bluetooth or WiFi to smartphones and other devices.

What other products or trends from MWC 2013 stood out to you?

It's not hard to come by a food-enthusiast in New York. After all, some of the country's best restaurants can be found in Manhattan or one of the city's other four boroughs.

That's what makes New York City a great location for the 2013 Summer Fancy Food Show!

The massive trade show, scheduled for June 30 - July 2, 2013, will feature more than 150,000 specialty foods and beverages from 2,000+ exhibitors from countries all over the world. According to the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, attendees will also have access to more than 15 educational seminars, tours and tastings. Wow!

While the show is not open to the general public, businesses within the specialty food industry are welcome.

To get a closer look at the Fancy Food Show, watch the promo video below:

Several major companies within the commercial printing world that made headlines at 2010's International Printing Machinery and Allied Trades Exhibition (IPEX), which is held every four years, have opted out of the 2014 event. But why?

According to USA Today, big players like Kodak and Xerox are beginning to rely less on trade shows to market their brands. Xerox's Vice President of Global Marketing Jon Levine explains:

"We're in a world of information. The customer has all the control right now. What we're trying to do is build advocates for our brand. The idea is, we have to reach our customers in different ways. The efficient way to do that might not be trade shows."

Indeed, in a world where any and all information about a brand can be found online, attending big events like IPEX may not be the best marketing strategy.

Still, USA Today points out that Kodak and Xerox aren't abandoning trade shows all together. Both companies will be present at two upcoming trade shows: Hunkeler Innovationdays in Switzerland and Drupa in Germany.