Event

What when wrong! There we so many things wrong with this conference it really makes me wonder if the hype of ‘web2.0′ is getting seriously out of control.  I remember back in 2000 that this was the way of things, everyone had conferences and everyone loved charging £400-500 for them, but few produced good events/conferences.

Just a few weeks ago I went to the ‘European Corporate Blogging’ conference and it was without a doubt a total joke.  Few (50%) were in a attendance even though the room was tiny - perhaps only accommodating a 150 people.  Most of the speakers were about as prepared as I could get just having woken up and fallen out of bed.  Although in fairness the IBM, HP, and Headshift presentations were pretty spot on and contained value, as well there was a favourite among those I spoke with was Mr JP Rangaswami the Confused of Calcutta author.

So just over 1/3 of the speakers had any value to contribute.  You wonder if I am being overly critical right?  Well there was about 20-25 people left in attendance from 3pm onwards.  That’s a over 2hrs before the end of the conference.

Here are a couple killers that happened right at the outset that are bog standard in my opinion:

• No Wifi, at £500 I expect Wifi, but they wanted an addition £14 for the day of Wifi.  Cheap and disgraceful.
• As well they never considered that anyone in attendance would blog, take pictures about the event as they never suggested any method for tagging e.g. @Media2006, so everyone can find the information on the web later
• They didn’t record the speakers so we could download the podcasts after the event

How is it a conference about Blogging one of the most ‘web 2.0′ products on the web doesn’t have any consideration for podcasting, blogging, or vlogging?

Shocking and telling about the quality of BFI’s staff and event planners that they have one of the most expensive brand of water bottle on my table but no Wifi?

Anyway below is a picture from outside.  I have more pictures and the fabulous talk that JP put on, so look here for more later today or tomorrow as I finally make time to upload this information.

Have you heard?  NMK (New Media Knowledge) is putting on an event ‘My So-Called 2nd Life’ covering new MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) phenomenon 2nd Life.

You haven’t heard of secondlife then you are out of the loop.  Politicians are holding press conferences, media are launching products in ‘virtual showrooms’, major brands are buying ‘virtual ad space’ and there are even real estate investors buying up virtual properties.

It is exciting, its totally new and as such has no precedence.  If you don’t know about 2nd Life you should go to this event if for no other reason than to hear about where history is being made on the Internet.

Those people that go to the event please come back and comment your thoughts about 2nd Life and if you see yourself or your company investing in the future?

[tags]2ndlife,secondlife,nmk,newmediaknowledge,mmorpg[/tags]

My experience of this NMK event.

• If you are looking for an event to network, go to these events but since there is little turnover in the viewership I imagine the value after the second or third time will decrease significantly
• If you wanted to hear something new or ground breaking, this definitely wasn’t the place for it. Most of the thought leaders were listening rather than speaking, you could spot them by their sharp and insightful questions
• If you wanted to witness the echo effect of yelling into a small space e.g. speaking to a group of specialists that mostly all know the same things, then go to this event. Nothing said was new, nothing said was deeply discussed, most were borderline arguments, etc

That being said it was good to meet with colleagues and peers to socialise and share a pint. If I go again it will be because a friend is going, or I got a free ticket.

One positive I walked away with was that if you wanted to know what others were thinking and whether your ideas or views were original all you had to do was get into a conversation about this startup or that one. This can be a humbling experience if you aren’t used to others critising your ‘great’ idea.

As well it reminded me what an investor once said on my blog, its not the idea that is important, its the execution of that idea. If you are a startup or planning to become/form one then I recommend you consider this your most important objective - execute, execute, execute, because odds are your idea isn’t original and others will follow if not lead.

Check out NMK for more information about events in London, UK.

[tags]nmk,beers&innovation,aggregators,london,event[/tags]