Some great keynotes here at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York, both yesterday and today. Gary Vaynerchuk was a firm favourite, at least from confering with the peeps from the digital mission companies (full list here by the way). We'll get to see Gary again at Wine 2.0 tonight.
Our very own Sam Michel, MD of Chinwag, has made it on to the radio -
Blog Talk Radio to be precise - and it’s good to hear from him that “the
Digital Mission is going incredibly well”.
Every year it's the same moldy old format recycled round the media hype circuit. It's the year of the mobile web, of mashups. It's the end of print media, the death of the gatekeeper. Revolutions are ushering themselves in left, right and centre, and whoosh! Life as we know it will be forever unutterably changed... yeah!
Yesterday started with investor meetings over breakfast. Both for those companies fundraising, and those that were not, there were fruitful discussions about the market. VCs can be hard to track down, so having a place for rapid one-on-one meetings (in the very nice surroundings of the Winston and Strawn offices) was priceless.
It is an interesting week to be in New York that's for sure. You can imagine the TV and press coverage here. But new challenges bring opportunities with them. As businesses re-examine their budgets and spending habits, companies with newer, more effective ways of doing things have scope to make gains.
30,000 Feet up in the air feels like a very odd place to be writing a blog post, but it is curiously appropriate. I'm halfway between London and New York as I type this. Around me are representatives from the Digital Mission companies. Already, just a few hours into the mission, there have been discussions about the challenges and opportunities of business between the UK and the US .
I'm sat here in the delectable new Chinwag offices, with the swirl of final preparations proceeding around me. More and more people are finding each other on the Web 2.0 Expo Crowd Vine site, and the agenda is continuing to grow (see the digitalmission tag on upcoming).
As the Digital Mission to New York gathers pace, the agendas are printed, the bags are packed and some of the UK's top digital businesses head to the airport, there's a new addition to the party.
The Future of Web Applications (FOWA) on the 3rd October is the premier showcase of new web technologies and emergent business trends. It’s the honey-pot event for European web professionals and attracts developers and creative types in spades.
