The next Web conference.... More Europe Inside plz !

The Next Web Conference :  Good & Bad things at the same time.
(Disclosure: I paid the conference with my money which I think make a huge difference, so keep that in mind)

Let's start with the good stuff.

• Presentations were really good. Squio has made the full list with the links.
  
  • I really enjoyed Saul Klein 's one about seeding Europe (see my previous post),
  • Tapan Bhat (Yahoo is currently exploring the micro-filtering +/- suggestion +/- not too much stay open stuff) slides were really about the next web and I need to find them (while waiting Read/Write has a great podcast). I would love to have their data analysis.
  • Identity 2.0 from Dick Hardt, at the beginning i thought it was the same presentation i've taken some ideas from, but at the end it's a relly new presentation, the subject is deaper and the new product presented sxipper is great. That's fantastic to see a vision become deep and real.
  • I enjoyed the "relationship bricolage" from Deborah Schultz.
• Badges were smart = calendar +  map to go to the dinner.

Mixed blessing

• Having Kevin rose (see below on the read more)
• Not having Michael Arrington
• the wifi not working

Bad things

• The price of my steack for the dinner ! 65€ ! My wallet never paid has much, ever !
• The US style they've tried to create. It goes from having a timmer when start-ups were presenting coupled with the grumpy old men (even if it was really good sometimes). Awards were a really bad idea, we should put on stage great European company, not celebrating Youtube, Techcrunch or Linked In.
• Jason calacanis canceled !
• Booths were really small and alleys overcrowded during the breaks.
• I missed the VC round but this one is on me !
• No open plugs to refuel the laptop.

So at the end of the day it was a really good conference but we should have more quality time with people. Investment should pay more and we should leverage more the People Inside.

What I would suggest is having a day and half conference where we could get more of every thing and not try to outpace everything. We have the best capitals possible (I love Amsterdam, it's a newly Hall of Fame city) we should be able to enjoy the place and the food while having more quality time.

1. 08:00 to 11:00 The morning have an open coffee in a LARGE area !
2. 11:00 to 12:00 Get Inspiration (No CEO nor partners)
3. 12:30 to 14:30 Lunch : let a bunch of connectors have 5 cards to invite who ever they want to lunch (and add 2 open seats available on contest - why i should come to this lunch).
4. Afternoon = start-ups (not the ones funded by the local, even if i get the why) and put a huge speaker in the middle so people will attend.
5. Evening dinner = same process as for lunch or a self organized based on previous networking
6. Morning = Get Inspired again
7. Closing Open coffee / lunch with buffet and Large room (maybe booths too)
8. Go back home / Continue the talk with a really interested people / Enjoy the capital.

The idea of having a network prior to the conference is very good. Larger and deeper ecosystem

Most posts on this year next web are about Kevin Rose & digg going after pictures, restaurants ...etc. Kevin had a 5 minutes speak trough videoconference and it stopped for connection reason !

Very smart european companies have made some great annoncements, I've been suprised by the size some of them have managed to reach. We need to spend as much time speaking about the valley that about europe. For example I've been impressed by the mobile start-ups (that's a segment we could, thanks to penetration rate, lead) during the next web. The three companies I dicovered and loved are :

1. e-buddy (very smart viral idea !)
2. mobiluck (great founder & Marketing VP)
3. widsets (currently in testing but akready impressed)

And I'll offer a few backlinks to companies I liked :

So the list is the following the internet address book / People Aggregator  (thanks Marc for the birthday party) / Widsets / Moovement (pour les conseils nocturnes) / Feedback2.0 / Mobiluck / E-buddy / Wakoopa

Comments

[Rédigé par : Jason]

FYI: I had canceled due to the launch of Mahalo.com a MONTH before they took my name down. I asked them multiple times to take my name off the program and they didn't do it. I'm very displeased with them for doing this--I felt it was deceptive to leave me on the program knowing i wasn't coming.

I apologize on their behalf for the miscommunication.

Jason