Written on May 15, 2008 – 10:17 am
Simone Brummelhuis, writing about women on the web
It may be pretty good that Sharon Bigger, Wendy Braver, Pamela Fox of Google , Jennifer Kilian, Lisa Parks and Aimee Stewart have signed up with 95 male developers, technologists, CTOs, researchers, geographers, academics, business developers and entrepreneurs, for a speaker session at Where 2.0. But in a conference ‘that brings together the people, projects, and issues building the new technological foundations and creating value in the location industry’, you think that women are more interested.. Indeed, ” why women cannot read maps’ has been a bestseller for ages.
However, in order to speak at a conference, one should submit a paper or proposal. So it is one thing for women to sign up at Geekspeakr, a great website by geek Brenda Wallace, and to show that you are a great speaker or knowledgable on a certain subject. But the next thing to do is to think about a specific topic for a session, a workshop or keynote and to schedule some time to write down your proposal.
Take Developerday at the Microsoft campus end of November 2008. The organisation calls for speakers to submit topics that they would like to talk on - first-time speakers or experienced trainers are equally welcomed. Then the community will vote on-line for which sessions they would like to see happen on the day and from that the agenda will be decided. Many proposals have been already submitted. However, a women speaker has yet to act.
Generally, conference organizations provide you with guidelines on the target audience, the length of a topic and how in-depth the session should be, such as in the Gilbane conference.
Some tips for writing a good proposal for a good talk, which I read at an upcoming hosting conference:
- Keep it free of marketing
- Keep the audience in mind: are they technical, professional, and already pretty smart?
- Clearly identify the level of the talk: is it for beginners to the topic, or for gurus? What knowledge should people have when they come to the talk?
- Give it a simple and straightforward title: fancy and clever titles make it harder for people to figure out what you’re really talking about
- Limit the scope of the talk: in 45 minutes, you won’t be able to cover everything. Make sure your talk is focused and not too widely targeted.
- Explain why people will want to attend: how will the talk impact their business? will they be able to apply the principles immediately?
- Explain what you will cover in the talk in as much detail as possible
So go ahead and good luck!
Written on May 14, 2008 – 2:00 am
Patrick de Laive, Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Fleck
I was at the Webstart conference in Zagreb last week. The whole Croatian web-scene had gathered there for 2 days of presentations and networking.
First of all, Croatia is a very beautiful country and Zagreb is really trendy. The economy is growing at a fast pace and in 2 years Croatia enters the EU. Even more important, there are loads and loads of developers here. Tomislav Car, a 22-year old entrepreneur told me last week that it is cool to study computer science there!
I code Ruby on Rails for food
As on almost all internet conferences there were a lot of startups. Most Croatian startups build services for the local (well, former Yugoslavia) market. Also a lot of companies do outsourced development for western European companies. I’ve met some cool startups and guess what, they are looking for money! Check it out:
Shout’em is a company that is building a mobile social network set for companies with a community. This sounds like a logical step. Companies like Ning and Broadband Mechanics build social networks on the web (with a total different business model) and as the mobile web is the ‘next big thing’ it makes sense to provide white label social networks for the mobile phone.
The user interface is pretty cool and location (of course) plays a big role in shout’em. Founder Viktor Marohnic told me that they are negotiating their first deal with a Croatian Telco (the only one I know is VIP -as I was on it during my trip-).
Ironhoop is a free online management game where you get to lead a virtual basketball team to glory, in competition with other participants. It has over 12.000 managers at the moment. Basketball is very popular in South East European countries. Lovro Banfić says they are working on new titles in the game network. They are looking for funding, but how much is not clear at this point.
I got this tip from Jim Mcgough, an American Angel investor who comes often in the Balkan and looks at new opportunities. Mobiexplore is build by Gideon Multi media which uses the revenue streams from doing client work to bootstrap the startup of the company. Mobiexplore is a travel guide system that was launched in Croatia in August 2007 and has generated more then 400.000 downloads. At the moment they are working on the launch of their Italian service and their UK service, which are planned to be released in Q4 of this year. They are looking for a capital injection of 1-5 million Euros (”depending on several things” according to founder Vedran Prazen).
From what I saw in Zagreb is that there are a lot of talented developers, eager to become successful entrepreneurs, but I have the idea that the business side is less developed. Altogether, South East Europe is an interesting market to keep an eye on.
Written on May 2, 2008 – 3:43 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
I don’t know about your countries’ society, yet I think you might notice the same development: more people start their own business. Several factors stimulate tech and new media professionals to quit their jobs and start an entrepreneurial adventure, some examples:
- personal branding has never been easier, just start a blog and work on your social media magic.
- hobbies get out of hand. When Dutch marketing consultant Marco Derksen started his blog Marketingfacts, he probably didn’t realize it would turn into a business. I’m sure you can name an example from your own country.
- the start-up culture sparks up a fire. Pioneers like Kevin Rose inspire thousands of young ambitious guys.
- You don’t have to be ashamed. Being an entrepreneur wasn’t really prestigious. Yet now universities and schools stimulate their students to start a business after they’ve graduated.
From my personal experience I can tell that being a freelancer isn’t always easy, especially in the beginning. What should I charge? How do I plan my days? Where can I find like-minded people? (on blogs!)
Co-editor Boris, Stowe Boyd & yours truly
That’s why The Next Web partnered up with Going Solo, a one-day educational conference for freelancers and small-business owners in the media, tech, design, and publishing industries. It will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland on May 16th. Organizer Stephanie Booth told me she means to inspire as well as educate the entrepreneurial crowd. Confirmed speakers include Stowe - the man with the Kangoo hat - Boyd, social media consultant Suw Charman-Anderson, and presentations consultant Laura Fitton.
So if you’ve started a business of your own - or planning on it - you might consider traveling to Lausanne. If you do so, have a look at Stephanie’s discount offer and drop me a line - as I’ll be there as well.
Written on April 15, 2008 – 8:00 am
Eric Bun, business innovation consultant
Probably a lot of you guys went to The Next Web Conference. Though for those of you who didn’t, I’ve summed up the key arguments of the speakers in a two-minute a video. It gives a great overview of the speakers who attented there and shares some interesting insights. If you want to know more, browse to the live blog coverage of Anne and Ernst-Jan.
Unfortunately, it is only two minutes. So I’m afraid that you’ve to attend the full two days next year!
Written on March 19, 2008 – 1:01 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Start-up rallies can be disastrous. Take the start-up rally at Le Web 3 for example. They had installed a start-up dock over there, which was a nice place to rest for most attendees. On top of that, the jury consisted of a few ‘I’m playing with my Blackberry’-guys. So the entrepreneurs saw a disinterested crowd and turned really nervous. I couldn’t watch it.
Here at PLUGG it’s totally different. Start-ups present on the main stage in two rally’s of ten companies. They only have two minutes, short ‘n’ sweet, and were encouraged to ‘act excited’, since if they aren’t excited about their own product, who will? That’s what I’m talking about!
The guys from Bragster really got the point. It’s a service on which friends can dare each other to something incredibly stupid. And it works, the people and the press love it. Moreover, rapper 50 cent is registered as well. What more can you ask for?
One of the team members of the French Bragster team challenged his colleague Niko to ‘throw a pie in Bertrand’s face’. So guess what happened when the two enthusiastic guys walked up the stage? Exactly, Bertrand’s world suddenly consisted of just pie and whipped cream. The audience was stunned.
After a rally, this very same audience had the opportunity to rate the start-ups. I won’t be surprised when Bragster really gained some points just by bringing the idea of their very fun start-up into practice.
Update: There you have it: Bragster is one of the tree finalists at the Plugg startup rally.
More about the other start-ups in the upcoming weeks, that’s a promise!
Written on March 19, 2008 – 10:22 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Setting up panels: why are conference organizers doing this? So you have four entrepreneurs on stage, all really good in what they do - I assume. You ask a moderator to do her job. And here we go: an entrepreneur gives a mediocre answer, the others are just nodding. The moderator tries to spark a fire, yet the only daring thing the entrepreneurs do is trying to speak louder than the other. In my experience, it often goes like that.
Same thing with today’s panel: Simon McDermott (Attentio), Rodrigo Sepúlveda (Vpod.tv), Andrej Nabergoj (Noovo) and Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (From the blog you’re reading now) are all skilled entrepreneurs. Some of them are even gifted speakers. Moderator Colette Ballou from Ballou PR is doing the best she can - making jokes, asking daring questions. Yet like aways, the result of a panel isn’t noteworthy.
I rather see these businessmen give four well-prepared short presentations. Discussion can follow afterwards, or on a backchannel (like the coffee break). Only then they’ll manage to share their expertise in an exciting and fairly thorough way.
Oh, I was just about to press publish, yet I wanted to share this cool quote: “starting a company is like having sex for the first time. You don’t know how it works, , it takes very long, but you’ll discover along the way”, stated Rodrigo Sepúlveda. Boris’ reply: “There’s one difference, if you have more sex you take more time.”
Left to right: Andrej, Rodrigo, Simon, Colette and Boris
Written on March 19, 2008 – 9:44 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Rebecca Jennings, a Senior Analyst from Forrester Research, talked about Social Computing in Europe: Facts & Figures. She asked how well social computing is being adopted in Europe. Why is the adoption and use of social computing different from country to country?
She started of with some examples to show how important social computing gets. Of course she mentioned Lego, the toys company who really gets how you can use your engaged following. For example, they asked the community what kind of Lego thing they wanted to see. The crowd asked for a bit more challenging object to build. So Lego launched the Lego Imperial Start Destroyer, an expensive Starwars space ship (80 euros). It was sold out in five weeks.
So Forrester figured it might be about time to do some profiling. Here’s what they came up with:
- Creators (10%) - creates content, like blogs and Flickr pictures
-
Critics (19%) - commenting and participating
-
Collectors (9%) - Following RSS feeds and social bookmarking
-
Joiners (13%) - Maintain profiles on social networks
- Spectators (40%) - Watch, listen, read
-
Inactives (55%) - guess what: none of the above
The percentages refer to the whole European population. When you look at the numbers per country, the Dutch turn out to be the keenest creators - reason for us to start yelling (sorry about that Rebecca). So why is that? Jennings thinks it’s because Holland was pretty early with affordable broadband. Yet cultural reasons do matter as well. Germans for example, are less into sharing than their Dutch neighbors.
Jennings waving at the yelling Dutchmen
If you look at different age groups, you notice that social media is a way of life for young customers. Companies should jump into this trend. A good example according to Jennings is Spine Breakers from Penguin Publishing. It’s a writing community for writing youngsters. The team of Spine Breakers gives their young users what they want, and it a huge part of the content is generated due to that philosophy.
So profiling should be the foundation of a company’s computing strategy. Companies have to ask themselves: What do we want to achieve? Then strategy evolves next. This is becoming more important everyday. “It’s a long term phenomenon. As you know, since I’m preaching to the converted”. In 5 to 10 years, we’ll see ubiquitous social networks, based on developments like open technology, shared identities, an information flow and advertisers who embrace the social influence of the community. And, as Jennings noted, thanks to internet entrepreneurs like us.
Update: check out the graph Ton Wesseling from Dutch blog Marketingfacts made.
Written on March 19, 2008 – 9:09 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Boris, Robert and me just arrived at the fancy Hotel Plaza in Brussels for ‘a European perspective on Web 2.0′. If the Wifi connection survives - it looks pretty good right now - we’ll cover this event for you. It’s up to TechCrunch UK’s Mike Butcher to now open the event - which is called Plugg by the way, while everybody is still having their regular conference breakfast: croissants and coffee.
After that, Rebecca Jennings from Forrester Research will address Social Computing in Europe in her keynote. To know what happens then, have a look at the schedule. If you have any requests about covering, or you want us to ask a certain question, give us a shout on Twitter.
Updates:
Butcher opening the conference by walking into the public, asking who people are
More photos by Robert or Ernst-Jan
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The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show of, the future of the Web. (
