Le Web Great Conference - NOT

Le Web, the greatest web conference in Europe ever. Maybe. Frankly, I'm pissed with it.
The WiFi is atrocious - but whenever the subject is mentioned it's laughed off. If you've sat through a whole day of conference like this with no connectivity, it's killing (ok, ok, I'm out in the lobby where strangely there is a signal - everyone clusters here like smokers getting their fix).
We got bumped from the Startup presentation room. Despite the fact that we were the second company to put ourselves up for presenting and that we've been on the list since day one until Sunday. Suddenly this morning we're no longer on the list. Oh, they emailed us 'loads' and we never replied. Well, we got no emails anywhere. And how hard are we to contact? Yadda, yadda, yadda. Just more pain and suffering from this conference.
And the speakers. Same old same old. Same old stories, same old corporate speakers. And same old friends of the organisers. It's like a love-in for a closed circle, with no fresh thinking or any challenge to the status quo. Very French.
And the conference is totally sold to the sponsors. So much so that the logos rotate ceaselessly above the speakers. Every inch is sold. Sure, it's a commercial conference, but hey, I've never seen that level of sponsor love before. They aren't just on the program, they are on the stage.
Ah, that's better, I've vented. Apart from the above it's been a great day with loads of interesting meetings and a lot of good conversation. And a great lunch with Simon from etribes.

Comments

[Emmanuel Prat]

Oops, as a Frenchman, I don't feel very proud about what happened at the conference. Very french, you wrote, and I am afraid I understand what you mean.
But don't forget: 62 million french people. Some of them have to be good.

[Ashley]

Hi Ivan

Very interested in what you are doing. Any chance we could meet at le web? I am going to be hanging round the microsoft stall for most of today (Tuesday)

[BillyWarhol]

I hear ya*

I remember getting Snookered at the Red Herring Magazine NDA '98 show*

I remember asking the show organizers fer a lousy 5 or even 10 minutes at the start of the Big morning presentation to do a Big Screen Slideshow of the amazing Cocktail Party Digital Photos & from the San Diego Polo Club*

The Who's Who of the DotCom Boom were all there!!!!

in the Demo room i was 2 tables down from that little upstart called eBay!!

& the people in the room would have eaten it up!

i think even Broadcom or whatever that Mark Cuban company was - was there & Bill Joy from SUN & Draper Fisher Jurvetson & all the Big VC $Money boys*

but noooooooo*

Rafe Needleman chooses 3 lousy shots to promote his own Joke that he's telling*

oh yoy!!!!!

;))))

ya gotta Laff but i really felt i was sooooo close to striking it $RICH$ in that DotCom Boom*

so now i have to come up with a $Billion Dollar WIDGET this time around!!

Enjoy Le Web & have a great time in Paris!

Cheers! Billy Warhol ;))