Gabriel Radic

First impressions.
The venue was OK, inside Paris for a change. The temperature inside was often above zero and the Steek branded bandannas we’ve put in everyone’s goody-bag had a good run.

Disastrous WiFi connection. Almost inexistent the first day, completely unreliable the second. We should ask for a refund, really.

The food. Not as fancy as last year’s and almost inexistent the first day. Sort of like a show in London. The next day there was plenty of food, but many participants brought sandwiches, just in case. Others were stepping out of the conferences 10 minutes before the break to get in the pole positions.

The business. Steek was a partner, as it was in ‘07, so I had to man the booth for most of the time. There were many, many visitors, loads of interesting and interested people.

Working day and night on a product, you get used to its features and take its benefits for granted. Demoing them to new users gives a good feel of what the world really thinks. And it was awesome: our products kick ass. They’re all over them. The world loves Steek. LOVES IT.

The other business. I could trow my 8 Points business card around a couple of times. I’ve also got some new ideas from the presentations and from the guys demoing on the booths. More about that on later posts.

The show and the stars.I was an unofficial booth-babe during the first day, so I couldn’t attend the conferences. The second day I had a bit more time, but I had to leave early. Well. Here’s the stuff that I did see:
– Paulo Coelho – boring.
– Virtual Goods Make Real Money, by Susan Wu, CEO, ohai – The topic is really dear to me, but this one presentation managed to be really boring.
– Yossi Vardi – Investor & Entrepreneur interviewed by Kara Swisher – To be honest, I was there for Kara, but Yossu Vardi is awesome. It made me reconsider my reluctance about VC money.
– Joichi Ito, CEO, Creative Commons – Nothing new in his presentation, but a really powerful and enjoyable presence.
– Money Talks: Getting Financed in a Recession – Eric Archambeau, Jeff Clavier, Martin Varsavsky, Fred Wilson moderated by Ouriel Ohayon – Interesting, but nothing to write home blog about.
– Lauren Feldman, 1938 Media He’s as bullish, macho and explosive as he appears on his videos. There’s little acting and second degree on his goofy videos, he really is that dumb, or brilliant.
– Scoble – Lauren’s right, he is the A-list douche.
– Christine Lagarde, French Finance Minister – Speaks openly, clearly and in good english. A very pleasant surprise. See here.
– The Gillmor Gang LIVE – I wish I could see this, but I had to leave early.

Probably there should’ve been more talk about the future and less about VC, but I’m not the one to complain about it being too start-up oriented.

The Parties Only went to the private Steek event, which was cool. Always fun to be with the Bordeaux gang, and the special guests were fun too.


Conclusion. Le Web 08 was far better that what I hoped for. Worth 1700€, despite the “Leemure” blunders.