Ignite: the evolution of presentations
I went to the Ignite Web2Expo event at the Moscone Center last night directly after playing football all afternoon and made the mistake of drinking some of the free beer there before I quenched my thirst. Fortunately, the presentations were sufficiently good to overcome my consequent mental state.
In the spirit of Web 2.0, they were using Mozes to allow the audience to post messages on the supplementary display screens by sending text messages to a special number. That allowed us to make snarky comments during the presentations without drowning out the speakers with our voices. At one point, however, this guy in a suit was speaking and somebody posted "don johnson called. he needs his suit back" to the screen, generating a wave of snickering that must have really confused the poor speaker.
The purpose of this event was to allow the audience to vote on whom they wanted as the keynote speaker for Web 2.0 Expo. After the presentations, we voted by sending text messages and the results were updated on the main display in quasi-real-time until a victor emerged. It was very Web 2.0 :-)
The most immediately useful presentation was about this new free Web analytics service that looks like it may put Google's to shame. The most inspiring one was a product from Potenco that promises to bring electric power to remote rural areas in the developing world. The most entertaining one was about people sharing their ideas and instructions for building neat stuff like K'nex projectiles and booby-traps. The most revolutionary ideas were presented by the proponent of a 4-hour workweek, who recommended outsourcing the drudgery of our lives! I think the most bizarre presentation was a tie between a guy who started a company while doing Physics research at the South pole and a local beekeeper who compared Web 2.0 to a beehive. There was even a Toronto connection by a pair of speakers who had run a transit BarCamp to generate ideas for improving the TTC.
In the spirit of Web 2.0, they were using Mozes to allow the audience to post messages on the supplementary display screens by sending text messages to a special number. That allowed us to make snarky comments during the presentations without drowning out the speakers with our voices. At one point, however, this guy in a suit was speaking and somebody posted "don johnson called. he needs his suit back" to the screen, generating a wave of snickering that must have really confused the poor speaker.
The purpose of this event was to allow the audience to vote on whom they wanted as the keynote speaker for Web 2.0 Expo. After the presentations, we voted by sending text messages and the results were updated on the main display in quasi-real-time until a victor emerged. It was very Web 2.0 :-)
The most immediately useful presentation was about this new free Web analytics service that looks like it may put Google's to shame. The most inspiring one was a product from Potenco that promises to bring electric power to remote rural areas in the developing world. The most entertaining one was about people sharing their ideas and instructions for building neat stuff like K'nex projectiles and booby-traps. The most revolutionary ideas were presented by the proponent of a 4-hour workweek, who recommended outsourcing the drudgery of our lives! I think the most bizarre presentation was a tie between a guy who started a company while doing Physics research at the South pole and a local beekeeper who compared Web 2.0 to a beehive. There was even a Toronto connection by a pair of speakers who had run a transit BarCamp to generate ideas for improving the TTC.