we meshed…and it was good
Maybe a sign that I've already become a “seasoned” conference organizer (one event under my belt!) is my interest in how to make the next mesh better. Everything went so well that it's difficult to come up with something obvious we should have done differently. That said, there's always room for improvement so if anyone has suggestions, comments or critiques, let us know. mesh 2006 was an exciting, thrilling and rewarding experience. To see so many enthusiastic people getting together to share ideas, learn about what others are doing and making plans to work and/or work together was exciting to see happen. In many respects, conference have a funny way of becoming whatever the attendees want to make it. At mesh, they connected, engaged themselves with our speakers and participated in conversations during sessions and, I would argue more importantly, during the coffee breaks, lunches and socials.
For five “middle-aged white guys” guys (Mathew, Michael, Stuart, Rob and myself) who are not conference organizers but simply people who have a strong passion about what's happening within the Web 2.0 world, mesh was everything we hoped it would be. A big thank you to the people who decided to attend; our keynotes, panelists and workshop folks, MCC Planners for their terrific behind-the-scenes work; Encore Catering, MaRS and Allen Gelberg; GWP for the amazing name and log; Edelman for helping create the mesh message; David Crow and Sunir Shah for the mesh wiki; and, of course, our wives encouraging us to make mesh happen.
Update: Here are some post-conference thoughts from Mathew, Rob, and the mesh blog.
May 17th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Sunir was instrumental in helping set up the wiki. Yeah, it's part of his sales guy job, but he really did contribute in the wiki session and with the wiki. I'll send a shout out to Sunir the wiki wouldn't have happened without him.
May 17th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Mesh was a refreshing experience. Every session, workshop, lunch break and coffee break brimmed with energy and enthusiasm that was truly infectious. Mesh lived up to its tag line and truly helped people connect, share and inspire! I for one needed the inspiration and I sure did get a lot of it.
May 18th, 2006 at 2:43 am
Mark, as one of the few attendees with neither blogging experience, nor tech skills - yet a successful online biz - I hope I’m adding fresh perspective when I tell you the “discussion†format was excellent for people like me. The opportunity to ask questions and provide input from my perspective was invaluable in getting me to understand web 2.0 and how to implement it into my next upgrade.
SUGGESTIONS
First off, you guys didn't miss anything. Unbelievable considering it was your first event and on such short notice. If I can add suggestions to make it even better, how about the following:
1] Make sure you give all Mesh attendees the right of first refusal before opening up ticket sales to the public next year. I don’t want to miss it and hope to demonstrate our successful implementation of blogs, RSS, podcasting, etc.
2] As suggested to McDerment and his team, might not be a bad idea to create a “classified” section next year, where guys like me can post things such as “looking for a podcast expert”. I could then mesh with respondents during the break periods in mini 5-minute meetings. Speed dating - but for commerce.
This provides a perfect solution for vendors/prospects to meet without going the official route of setting up vendor booths (ugh) and turning it into a trade show. Charge $10/post and $10/response to make sure only serious inquiries are made. Great way to add even more value to the conference.
Since “AGORA” is the ancient Greek term for marketplace, I'd love the opportunity to sponsor the new “Mesh AGORA”.
Best,
George Tsiolis
The Tallest Greek @ Mesh