Web 2.0 Conference 2006 Reviews
Overall Ratings
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| The Speakers: |
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| The Content |
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| The Networking |
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The Reviews
Show reviews about the conference overall
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By: Anonymous No
on May 18 2007 at 07:18 PM EDT
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I agree with Salim
A review of the session "A Conversation with Yahoo"
But still want more from Yahoo in terms of support strategy. What are they doing to help the industry understand what and how to work with them. |
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By: Rohit Khare
on Nov 13 2006 at 02:42 AM EST
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The single most incisive idea of Web2.0 this year
A review of the session "Disruption Opportunity: Beating Google at Their Own Game"
... was in an offhand closing comment from these competitors: "What if Google is the Model T of search engines?" I'm still plumbing the edges of this evocative analogy -- though I'm very reluctant to say it's got any basis in fact, beyond the idea that "you can have any search UI that you want, as long as it's white." As completely world-dominating as this best-selling product was (the Model T) and as happy as hard-driven workforce was (doubling wages to $5/day in exchange for intrusive control over private lives), the downfall of that era was not by a better version of that one-product-for-all, but by an explosive fragmentation into fashionable products for "every purse and purpose" (GM). What if the future of search is lots of different, entertaining engines for different demographics? I'd nominate msdewey.com for Tallest Tailfins so far in that case... |
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By: Rohit Khare
on Nov 13 2006 at 02:35 AM EST
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'Speed Kills...'
A review of the session "What Google Knows"
As extraordinarily polished a speaker as she is, the title slide promised a secret Google has learned -- but the story that even millisecond delays in the main Google engine have been documented to decrease user satisfaction -- is well-known by now. The only secret I learned is that quite possibly her genius as keeper of the 'design' of the home page is that she initially did *not* have experience with usability, etc, and brought far less prejudice to the table than the raging debate by other Googlers would have suggested... just the user-testing data, ma'am. |
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By: Rohit Khare
on Nov 13 2006 at 02:31 AM EST
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Fun, but not forward-looking
A review of the session "A Conversation with Eric Schmidt"
... since interviewing public-company CEOs just isn't as much (unscripted) fun as it used to be. Eric is currently a ridiculously polished speaker who can nail frankness and earnestly enjoys his job. The only mild news, though, was denying that GOOG set aside some of the YouTube purchase price for copyright settlements; and that he brought up (and explained!) the acronyms LAMP and REST -- another example of technical depth that none of the other CEOs could match... |
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By: Rohit Khare
on Nov 13 2006 at 02:28 AM EST
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5-star judges, 4-star picks
A review of the session " Launch Pad: New Companies Show Their Wares"
First off, for a variety of completely credible reasons, few of these were whole-cloth unveilings of new companies, like the main conference sessions did in 2004. Unfortunately, the A/V difficulties (that continued from last year) were *in*credible, to the point of inviting the audience to a "7th-startup stretch" and milling about. The panel of judges, an innovation this year, was dramatically strong. Of the companies, though, one can find better reviews at TechCrunch and Mashable for the marathon 13-co session. |
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By: Rohit Khare
on Nov 13 2006 at 02:23 AM EST 
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Standing-room-only, but cliched
A review of the session " Advertising 2.0 (Sponsored by About.com)"
I was there primarily to hear Rafat Ali, but the discussion was dominated by analogies to old-line TV ad sales practices, and not enough of specific examples of successful campaigns/techniques. |
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By: Rohit Khare
on Nov 13 2006 at 02:19 AM EST
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Still a buzzword-in-the-making
A review of the session "Enterprise 2.0"
Enterprise 2.0 is the banner that several startups and even a full-time blog have taken up. The general idea is that the same kind of innovative energy should be unleashed within the enterprise as well as it has been for 'consumers'. Avi of DabbleDB did an excelllent job on this panel as well, demoing a bit of their app and giving specific examples of usage. Otherwise, much of the panel remained theoretical and abstract, suggesting the label still needs to mature into a series of known success stories. SocialText/SocialCalc were also concrete examples. There was also a speaker from Freshbooks(?) |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 12 2006 at 09:38 PM EST
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Good session, but book needs reading
A review of the session "The Global Plant Floor"
This session was quite complex - Don is a great speaker but he was presenting some complex charts and didn't really have the time to explain it. It certainly made me want to buy the book, though! |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 12 2006 at 09:33 PM EST
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Great session, if a little salesy
A review of the session "Enterprise 2.0 Mashups"
Marc was very polished. However, some of the content was pretty obvious and vanilla. It was geared to show that SF is trying to be a platform, and he did that successfully. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 12 2006 at 11:24 AM EST
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Crowded, but good
A review of the session "Opening Cocktail Reception (hosted by FAST)"
The food was good, the wine was flowing and the quality of the people there was amazing. The exhibits weren't overly obtrusive yet one always ended up talking to them (which is great for them). Very professional session. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 11 2006 at 09:08 PM EST
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Good food, strong drinks, great n/wing... wow
A review of the session "Closing Reception (hosted by Federated Media, CMP Technology and O'Reilly Media)"
Excellent networking, and the gin & tonics??! In 45 mins, one of the bartenders became 'famous' for his gin and tonics. 99% gin... it had you doubling over and going back for more (tonic). Lots of excellent conversation too. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 11 2006 at 08:23 PM EST
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Great interaction
A review of the session "Disruption Opportunity: The Pirate and the Suit"
John moderated a great panel here, and managed the natural tension very well. Eric Nicoli was gratifyingly honest. Music companies have to make money and are trying to do it in the best way they can. Eric Kleptone raised a great point that artists today have more opportunity than ever to raise awareness about themselves. All in all a great panel. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 11 2006 at 07:14 PM EST
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Digg is sooo cool
A review of the session "What Digg Knows"
Kevin went through and explained how Digg is managing their users and how something gets from discovery to the home page (record: 4 mins). He had a great metaphor with flowers growing everytime a bee (a Digger) recommends a story. Again, way too short. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 11 2006 at 07:10 PM EST
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Good food, good drink, good networking
A review of the session "Reception (hosted by IBM)"
It was excellent... I met a slew of people that I haven't seen in ages. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 11 2006 at 07:03 PM EST
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V. interesting
A review of the session "Cyworld Revealed"
Cyworld is a fascinating case study of how member propagation takes place. Very interesting talk. The session was way too short, imho - would have liked to have heard more. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 10 2006 at 03:02 PM EST
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Great panel
A review of the session "A Conversation with Yahoo"
This was highly interesting. Great to see David Filo out there - he was extremely forthright and engaged. Bradley was as great as usual. It was cool to see David still intimately involved after 12 years. The session was notable in that both were very honest about where yahoo is today. They were also very optimistic about supporting their products with the new ad engine coming soon. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 10 2006 at 02:59 PM EST
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Good panel...
A review of the session "Disruption Opportunity: Broadcast"
John really tried to get some juice going, but the panelists wouldn't bite (and I can't blame them). Excellent panel overall, but it would have been nice to hear more about what the next steps are on the business models and how they're going to evolve. All the speakers were great |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 10 2006 at 09:11 AM EST
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Excellent conference
A review of the conference overall
As always, Battelle put on a great show. Wifi was mostly ok but a bit spotty and the content was phenomenal in parts ad spotty in parts. Networking was totally amazing. I met 20 people that I've wanted to see in years and another 20 that I haven't seen in years. |
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By: Mary Hodder
on Nov 09 2006 at 04:43 PM EST
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Barry Diller and Arthur Sulzberger
A review of the session "A Conversation with Barry Diller and Arthur Sulzberger"
Barry Diller is really sharp, but all his jokes are about undercutting someone else. Arthur Sulzberger was okay. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 09 2006 at 03:54 PM EST
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Lou was great... but no encore!
A review of the session "Evening concert"
The room was a bit quiet at the beginning and Lou Reed started off playing a bit quietly.. there were people talking at the back and he said "you people can keep talking, or I can play louder... which one do you want... 4 or 5 songs including a new one that was excellent. |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 09 2006 at 03:35 PM EST
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Interesting, but a bit off topic
A review of the session "Cops and Robbers Las Vegas Style"
Jeff is someone I'd love to spend an hour with, but in the time allotted, it was hard to get it... |
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By: Salim Ismailsalim
on Nov 09 2006 at 03:06 PM EST
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Speed of serving up pages is key...
A review of the session "What Google Knows"
Marissa spoke mostly to one point... the fact that speed of serving up a web page is hugely important to traffic. Interesting point, but that was the only one in the session... |
