Well folks, while you may think all the action is on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, the flip side of the coin is the enormous amount of buzz, energy and networking that happens in Startup Alley. Today there are 44 companies exhibiting in the Alley itself, not to mention the 20+ companies in the Israeli pavilion which makes its second appearance at Disrupt. We’ll have another brand new 47 companies in Startup Alley tomorrow. You can check out all the companies today here.

But none of this is just for show, because Disrupt attendees get to vote on their favourite companies, and those votes, plus the votes of TC staff, means one of them gets to pitch at the end of each day.

Delegates to Disrupt can vote by 3pm, but have to have a code (which is on their badge). If you’re here in New York at the event then use this URL and your code to vote.

On the third day there’ll be an audience choice for the battlefield competition.

Some themes emerging from the Alley companies today include social photos, social video, location analytics, linking the real-world with offline, and even language translation.

Meanwhile, myself, and my colleagues Jordan Crook and Matt Burns will be roaming the Alley with a camera during the conference and here’s our first installment.