Back from Le Web 3, and I am so glad I was there

Unless you have been away for a week in an Internet-deprived location, or don't bother reading blogs anymore, you are at least aware that a conference called Le Web3 took place in Paris (France) last week, and that a very profound and passionate controversy ensued - initially led by mostly negative feedback and subsequently by a wave of positive ones.

I rarely take part of blogging “shitstorms” - unless one of my companies is right in the middle of it of course - since things related to angel investing happen largely behind closed doors. However this time, I ended up in the middle of it. First because my good friend Loic, the organizer of Le Web 3, was taking a beating which turned very nasty and personal - to the point of often drifting away from issues with the conference and focusing on personal anger against him. Second because I ended up driving a large part of the second day of the show as Loic was busy dealing with the “insertion” in the program of Shimon Peres, and French Presidential candidates Francois Bayrou and Nicolas Sarkozy. Since we added 90 minutes of content in the program, whilst trying to keep every speaker who made it to the show in said program, we had to plan (and re-plan) almost in realtime. So some of the complaints from speakers about the last minute changes, the recombination of panels, etc. should also come my way. I will only note that Bruno Bonnell, the CEO of Atari, flew from New-York especially for the conference, and only made a joke when pointing out that he could taken the next flight out had he known that his panel would be delayed by 3 hours (my doing, again). And this is a guy running a public company.

Loic has just posted a very detailed response to the criticism he has received, and so I won't cover the same topics. I would however like to share some reflections I have had at the conference and since then:

• As I said in my closing remarks at the conference, Le Web 3 might have had issues (and the magnitude of these issues really varied from one attendee to the next) but it was a very important event. It was the first time I saw the European ecosystem (like the one we have in Silicon Valley) come together in a palpable way. Young startup entrepreneurs hanging out with more experienced ones, potential partners from large Internet or telco companies, and - at last I should say - investors. I was pleased to see a large number of VCs from all over Europe chatting around with companies presenting at the startup corner or just attending the conference. Since I am not attending European conferences at the same rate as US ones (!!!), I would be happy to be proven wrong but I heard it many times from attendees (the happy ones).
• There was a disconnect between some of the audience and the intent of the conference, that we'll need to address in the future - provided that there is something beyond Le Web 3. This year's program was meant to be a departure from Les Blogs, with a much broader scope and ambition - the Web as a platform, for technology, business, media, etc. but also for culture, society and politics. This shift seemed clear to me, but there were people in the audience expecting a new iteration of Les Blogs - which is obviously not what they got.
• Like Ross, I think that as disrupting as it was, it was a good thing to add Peres, Bayrou and Sarkozy at the last minute despite the obvious risks involved in doing so. I was really disappointed, and embarassed, at the demonstration that many influential French politicians are or feel completely unable of entering into a conversation in English. Why can't they all be like Christine Lagarde, the Minister of Foreign Trade, who has a perfect command of Shakespeare's language and is super smart.
• Loic called for an end of blogger conferences. I am actually longing for conferences recognizing that the content part of the program is second to the networking opportunity. I paid almost $5,000 (if you count incidentals) to attend the Web 2.0 conference this year, and in 3 days I must have spent a maximum of 3 or 4 hours in the room. Why ? Because I was so busy meeting or networking with so a ton interesting executives in the audience. I had a very similar experience at Le Web 3 - until I took over from Loic and then almost ran away from people because the focus was on the program.

I think that Le Web 3 went way beyond the achievements of the first and second edition of Les Blogs, despite or maybe even thanks to the controversy. In any case, I want to congratulate Loic (again) for putting it together, and want to encourage him to push for the limits for next year's conference - or whatever ends up materializing.. in less than 6 weeks. And I hope that this time he will listen when I say that 30 mins is *way* too short for a panel - but that's another story.

PS: I was asked to list my favorite sessions/speakers. I thought that the two panels on gaming were really interesting (thanks to the panelists, not the moderator - me - who demonstrated that he was still very limited in his knowledge of the gaming market). And I really liked the talks from Danah Boyd and Hans Rosling.
PPS: I have to give a special shout to the Netvibes party. As many people mentioned, the music was a bit too loud to have networking conversations but man the dancing was good.
PPPS: I had to update this post with the amusing cartoon that the unique Hugh McLeod just posted. As usual, a pleasure to hang out with you in Paris Hugh.

Tags: lemeur, leweb3

Comments

[Jacques Froissant (Altaïde : le recrutement 2.0)]

It was really a great conference : most of interesting panels of speakers, a lot of networking, ... and a great moderator the second day. ;-)

[Ewan Spence]

Jeff, good comments, and I'll say thank you for moderating a panel that was pulled together from two different areas of the "Virtual Worlds." From audience feedback and comments we got people thinking about the topic, and put on a good show. Which is always the key to teh front of house.

Back of House (and thanks to blgos that means 95% of the discussion on Le Web 3) will be addressed in the classic SWOT meetings (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunites and Threats) I hope are being held. The simple fact there was so much reaction indicates something, and looking at it as a whole, I believe that it boils down to problems of communication before, during, and after Le Web 3 between organisers and attendees.

This is where we beleive blogs and the web have their strengths. I can;t think of a better practical example.

[azeem]

And boy can you move on the dance floor...

I'm completely with you. The conference was god VFM from where I stand but there is still room for innovation (like quieter music at the next party.)

[Dimitar Vesselinov]

Loic is a force for good in France and Europe. We need more people and entrepreneurs like him...

[paul]

It would have been much better if Peres, Bayrou and Sarkozy came as participants rather then guest speakers.

They could have listened to the program off-site if security was a problem and then could have commented live via le web.

[Joe Duck]

Thanks for an insider view of this controversy. My initial reaction was that the firestorm of controversy was less about Le Web 3 and more about the tendency of bloggers to be opinionated and jump on opportunities to rant about things. Your view helps confirm that was the case here.