initial thoughts on mesh2006.05.15

Initial thoughts on Mesh:

Om Malik had many interesting things to say, but dude needs a louder mike or a lesson on how to project his voice.

Michael Geist is brilliant, gave a phenomenal speech, encouraged and enlivened the crowd and had so many interesting things to say that my brain felt full afterwards. I am definitely going to become a daily reader of his blog. Honestly, I haven't been so jazzed after hearing a speaker since trhe pre-dotcom days. Did I mention brilliant? Did I?

Areyoufrank (who doesn't deserve a link) gave a "15 minutes of fame" speech that boggled the mind. To come to a Web 2.0 conference and clearly not get the concept of Web 2.0 much less the concept of a highly informed and digitally plugged in audience is a travesty. I'd love to know what she used to pull the wool over the eyes of the conference organizers. You know the 60 second commercials you see at the Superbowl, the ones that won't even tell you what they're SELLING until the last second? Think that, only five achingly painful minutes long and WITHOUT a punch line at the end.

The 15 minutes of fame idea, overall, wasn't as strong as it could have been. It was reminiscent of other conferences where they give people a few minutes to address the crowd, but less useful - with other conferences, the speakers would share something of value - these were just product pitches, plain and simple. "Use our web site!"

Have managed to meet some interesting folks in PR, media and tech. More soon!

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