Web 2 Ireland

So, I'll start with an explanation for my title. During the first day at Le Web 3 the audience was encouraged to take part in a poll. The conference attracted people from approximately 38 countries but yet, only 8 countries were represented in the question It would appear that the world is divided into 8 and Ireland isn't part of it! Perhaps it was the sponsors that were being represented subconsciously.

I must admit, this is one conference I'm sorry I didn't sponsor – I felt brainwashed watching the rotating logos throughout the entire conference. Come to think of it, the rotating sponsors' logos were probably the only technical element that worked without a hiccup. In fact, there must have been someone coordinating their timing, as the logos popped in and out of presentations as if they were Google Adwords driven by contextual sales techniques.

Live blogging was almost disabled as Tom Raftery puts it. Wi-Fi was pretty much non-existent OK, so technical problems occur. Hell, I've attended W3C meetings where Web access wasn't available. However, what really bugged me (I can't stress this enough!) was the fact that the organiser, Loic LeMeur's, didn't seem to care and in fact, looked as annoying on stage as he does (now) on his blog! He just laughed it off. Then again, why would he care, he was there for a political party broadcast to set the foundation for his own political ambitions more about this in my next post as it deserves it's own parking space!!

It's just as well I attended as an invited guest thanks to Sam Sethi from TechCrunch UKIRL, or I would have asked for 1/3 of my money back. Day 1 was 'ok'. Most of the speakers were out of touch with the audience, or at least most of the audience – they didn't tell us anything new. It was another 'back clapping' exercise talking about 'me', 'me' and 'me'.

My favourite sound bite comes from one of the VCs (name escapes me right now) – E-commerce is growing and will be particularly busy at Christmas. This guy obviously has his finger on the pulse! Ok, I know the audience included non-techie people, but I'm sure my granny would have assumed Christmas was going to be a busy period. Or am I making a silly assumption?

All that said, it was a great trip for me personally. These conferences aren't about the speakers anyway (whether I'm speaking or listening), it's more about meeting people in the hall and deepening relationships with people you already know. I've made some great contacts and connected a few people. Meeting other likeminded Irish folk was brilliant also I think we should meet up more often!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 9:51 am and is filed under Events, Irish Web2.0 News, Web2.0 News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.