I didn’t get there for day 1, arriving only in the evening (and so made it to the blogger bash), but I did spend day 2 listening, learning and conversing. Meeting new people, and re-meeting those you already know, is always a treat at events like this, and Les Blogs 2.0 was no exception. I was especially pleased to meet three people who I’ve wanted to meet for a while but not had an opportunity until now – Shel Israel, Suw Charman and Jeff Clavier. It was also a real pleasure to meet and chat with Salim Ismail.

Of course, the list of people I wanted to personally meet far exceeded those I actually managed to. It’s just impossible to get to meet and talk to everyone you want to at such an event.

Plenty has already been posted about Les Blogs 2.0 by many of the participants, so for wide commentaries on varying aspects of the event, do take a look through those posts for unique views – check the collection at the ‘

One of the reasons I was at Les Blogs 2.0 was to moderate the panel discussion on podcasting, video and photo blogging. A terrific panel as the photo below shows.

Well, sort of: can’t see everyone’s faces. So, from left to right – Bertrand Lenotre, Roy Lindeman, Olivier Dufour, Jian Ni, and Gabe McIntyre.

The trouble with being the moderator of a panel is that you’re up there and not sitting in the audience tapping away at your keyboard to capture your thoughts, as all these folks were doing:

So I don’t have a detailed commentary about the discussion – but you can watch the whole thing as Maarten Schenk video’d it.

(By the way, I took these photos from the panel stage with my brand new Nokia N70 cameraphone, or rather, ‘multimedia device’ as Nokia calls it. I’d agree with that – an outstanding device. But no digressing for the moment about cool gadgets: a post soon about my N70. If you click on either pic, you’ll go to the bigger versions on Flickr which form part of the overall Les Blogs 2.0 photo collection there.)

One major point that did emerge from the panel discussion concerned what’s coming next – and that’s video – and what’s holding it back from rapid mainstream adoption. The tools are here now – hardware, software, networks, places to publish content. Big hurdle – lack of a universally-common file format.

And some perceptive commentary by Elizabeth Albrycht:

[...] Communicators need to be thinking about video. One of the guys behind the cameras at Les Blogs, Rodrigo Sepulveda, said that people are used to using video cameras. They use them at weddings, to film their kids, etc. It is more natural to many people than writing. Therefore, video blogging is potentially explosive. And what happens when people start video blogging their use of your product? Remember Kryptonite? That was all started by a video. The emotional impact of video cannot be denied, and communicators need to be thinking about how to use video and respond to video.

A few random conference thoughts -

The new sound of conferences – The quiet background sound of multiple hands tapping on multiple keyboards. And, there is a difference between the sound of a Mac and any other computer.

• In the six months since the first Les Blogs, last April, it seems that everyone is now a podcaster, while many others have bypassed audio and leapt straight to videocasting.
• The backchannel – A playground for kids. Juvenile with puerile content but a great temperature-tester that gives you a real sense of what people feel about what’s going on in a conference at a particular
  time.
• The trick, though, is determining that temperature from amongst all the inane and wholly off-topic chat that goes on.
• The wireless network in place was awesome. It was the first time I can ever recall seeing the wi-fi signal strength meter on my laptop (one of those very cool Konfabulator widgets) showing 100% the whole time. I don’t get that even from my home wireless network! Mind you, I was sitting right next to one of the many Linksys routers

Finally, a word of thanks to Loic le Meur for making this all happen. Simply terrific.

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

The event is completely sold out. Lots already been going on over the weekend, judging from the rapidly-growing .

What’s the event about? Absorb this, from Loic’s opening remarks:

[...] We believe there is a revolution going-on. We believe the World is changing extremely fast with blogging and we see it every day with the 10 million+ bloggers using Live Journal, TypePad and Movable Type. We want to help us all better understand this incredibly fast phenomenon and its consequences. The reason we have organized this second session of Les Blogs is more than just to network. We believe we have here for the next two days a unique opportunity with 25 Countries in the room to think about how blogging is changing the World.

I can buy that.

I’m going to be there but not for today’s sessions – work commitments keep me here in Amsterdam until about lunchtime when I jump on the Thalys and head off to Paris. I’m moderating the session on Tuesday morning on Podcasting, Photo & Video Blogging. And of course, I want to be there for tonight’s shindig

If you want to follow the posts of everyone at the event, speakers and participants, sign up for the RSS feed at Planet Les Blogs 2.0, a great initiative by Victor Ruiz. He’s also developed a tag cloud. Also, lots of tags in addition to Technorati.

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

Some great photos, and a pleasure to view them.

It isn’t so much the photos themselves that’s caught my attention, though. What did that is an amazing number – 1,200.

That’s how many photos there now are in Flickr that are tagged as ‘lesblogs’. (I just checked again before posting this entry: it’s now 1,228.) To me, that amazing number is a great way to illustrate what a phenomenal event Les Blogs has been as a live demonstration of the phrase ‘social network.’

In case you haven’t heard about Les Blogs, here’s a concise description. Les Blogs was a one-day conference about social networks, blogging, nanopublishing and where it’s all heading which took place at the French Senate in Paris on Monday. 257 people from 20 countries took part. The speaker lineup was really impressive (complete list on the event wiki).

Les Blogs was organized by Loic Le Meur and sponsored by Six Apart, VNU, Nokia, the French Senate, Canal Chat, PR Planet and 6nergies. The event attracted plenty of media attention, Loic says.

Those photos I mentioned should also attract plenty of attention. Some great photos there! But, I think it’s the amazing number and what it means that should be the real focus for attention.

Here you have a place on the net where any one of the 257 participants (300 or so, if you also count in the media) can place his or her personal visual expressions of a shared event in order to connect those visual expressions with those of other people who were at the event.

Add together all those individual expressions and interpretations of the event and you have broad, deep and highly personal interpretations that, collectively, represent a rich visual tapestry of a gathering of people.

Many of them have done precisely that. And any one else in the world with a net connection can also go to that place and see that tapestry. They, too, can then feel as if they are a part of that event. Indeed, if they leave comments to any of the images, that will create a further connection for them and for the owner of the image.

What all this means to me is that this is an extension of the event itself in the sense of how people are highly social creatures and want to connect with other people. What Les Blogs offered was a reason to do this and in ways that fit with how people readily use technology where it is an enabler of or catalyst for building more or stronger social relationships.

I don’t use the word ‘social’ to simply mean a dictionary definition, incidentally. To my mind, using a phrase such as ‘social network’ in the context in which I’m using it has a fuller meaning, embracing both the obvious social element of the definition as well as a business and professional angle.

Being social is just good for building business relationships.

During the event itself, everyone I saw certainly understood the value of that. People chatting to people everywhere you looked (and taking lots of photos). I did the same. I collected over 20 business cards.

This makes me wonder how soon someone will think up a far better notion for this ‘visiting card’ concept which has been around since at least Georgian times, and which today seems so distant from really connecting with people as the focus is purely on someone’s job title rather than any meaningful information about that person. Is that how people see themselves? Just described as a job title?

I don’t have a job title on my cards. Instead I have one of Hugh McLeod’s cartoons on the back that expresses a tongue-in-cheek view of the world as I see it. While that might be a bit too abstract for some people, it might tell them something about me that a job title never could. Plus it’s a great conversation starter.

Anyway, Les Blogs was a superb live demonstration of a real social network in action. But, I hear some of you cry, isn’t this the same as what happens at other events? People meet each other, they chat, exchange business cards, make connections. Surely the same thing?

Far from it, in my view. Other events – let’s call them ‘traditional’ events – are geared to the job title, status, hierarchies, etc. You exchange cards, then you might email that person or call them, pursue the traditional way of developing a connection.

Following Les Blogs, some of that will no doubt happen. But I bet you that many more collaborative, authentic and truthful relationships are built as a result of Les Blogs (see the Cluetrain for an idea of what I’m getting at).

It will be great to see how this has happened by the next Les Blogs. I bet Loic is already thinking about that. Or, at least, I bet lots of people are suggesting he organize another one. Say, September. Maybe in London this time.

That’s my suggestion, Loic!

Let’s get that Cluetrain out of the station!

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

Les Blogs

So everyone’s just a bit jaded and a little tired. Now it’s nearly 6:30pm and things are getting towards their conclusion.

Whether people are a bit tired or not, there have been some highly interesting discussions this afternoon – on nano publishing and vertical blogging, the blog advertising market, and a great panel discussion on traditional media and what they’re doing. I hope to post some thoughtful-type commentary when I’m back in Amsterdam late tomorrow, rather than just simple reporting or quick comments.

A panel discussion on blogs in Iran, China and other parts of Asia is just concluding. This session gave some great insight into what’s going on in parts of the world that have significantly less freedoms of expression than we have in Europe, for instance.

Doc Searls is taking the stand now, so more later, probably once I’m back in Amsterdam. But one quick comment as I’m having a problem publishing this post so time for an additional note – Doc says all bloggers are journalists. A blog is a journal. And we all write, we don’t produce content.

An addition to the debate on blogger vs journalist or, more correctly, blogger vs professional journalist.

And, Doc says – the Cluetrain still hasn’t left the station yet. More later.

Do take a look at the photos on Flickr, by the way – over 500 there now.

One thing – the wi-fi here has been very erratic. I’m still showing an extremely poor signal, which is affecting posting this to the blog (I’m writing offline with ecto for Windows).

Tags:

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

A socializing afternoon and evening in some fabulous company. As the pic shows, that’s me sandwiched in between Halley Suitt and Mary Hodder. Truly a thorn between two roses

This was taken in a brasserie just around the corner from my hotel. Also in our group were Doc Searls – I didn’t manage to snap him, but he took some pics – Perry de Havilland and Adriana Cronin-Lukas.

A terrfic group of people for some terrific conversation. Not just about blogging either.

I took a few other photos today, all now on Flickr. Just today’s at the moment; I’ll be adding to this set in the coming days.

Commentary tomorrow from Les Blogs!

Tags:

Link: David Tebbutt

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

… in Les Blogs, the one-day conference about social networks, blogging, nanopublishing and where it’s all heading which takes place at the French Senate on Monday.

I’ll be one of 257 participants from 20 countries. With some 50 media participants as well, that bumps the total towards 300. Lots of interesting people to meet!

Earlier this month, I said that it’s all happening in France. Well, there is absolutely no question about that – see this story in Wired News last Thursday that gives some great insight into why new media communication channels like blogs have taken off in France more than in any other European country. So an event like Les Blogs is also a real open window on new media in France.

I plan to live blog from Les Blogs, and record a few conversations for the Hobson & Holtz Report, depending on wi-fi availability and the battery life in my PC. Imagine 300 people all trying to plug in their PCs to a very limited quantity of power outlets – only 20, Loic says!

I’ll also be posting photos to Flickr.

It should be a terrific event with lots to talk about.

Tags:

Link: Thalys

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.