This is my 2nd year attending the Web 2.0 Summit and I must say the whole conference gives me an odd feeling because, to me, it’s such an odd event. Where else can you:
- Pay $3.2K to attend a conference and not be able to find a seat (and then be encouraged to go upstairs to watch the conference on a video feed in the “overflow” room)
- Sit down and hear the guy behind you say something like ” … well … I was interviewed by the New York Times … and they asked me if I thought there was another bubble … and I wanted to be measured [in my reply] …” (It turned out to be Roelof Botha from Sequoia Capital who, among other things, led the partnership’s investment in YouTube and is quoted in the the article I blogged about here.)
- Sit down and have the guy sitting to you next doing a real-time “Twittercast” of the conference. (Rafe Needelman from Cnet.) I’d quaintly inquired if he was doing real-time blogging. How passé!
- Find an event where a moderately disheveled, professorial book publisher is regarded as an icon, seemingly trailed by groupies? (Tim O’Reilly)
- Have such a weird agglomeration of the following people: venture capitalists, founders, startup-up CEOs, PR handlers, journalists, photographers, old media executives, alpha geeks, and a smattering of large company executives.
Dave, I kind of have to agree with you. I flew 14 hours all the way from Australia to attend this event, and in many ways, the Web 2.0 Expo earlier this year at Moscone West was a lot better organised and run. I’m not convinced I’ll have the same enthusiasm to come back to a Summit next year based on what I’ve experienced.