I was part of the working committee behind the Bridging Worlds conference (16-17 Oct 2008) and I'm sure lots of people will blog about, e.g.
+ Brian Kelly
+ Rambling Librarian
+ Aaron Tan
+ Hazman Aziz
and so on, and besides, I'll probably need to update the site + blog when the photos and videos come in. So what I'll do is to share some observations /stories outside of the usual reportage and analysis.
(1) Where's the Millennial Generation?
Looking at the speakers, one might be inclined to think that Web 2.0 does not favour the Millennial generation only. I was presently surprised to see that some of the Web 2.0 gurus in the panel of speakers are in their late 40s to possibly early 60s. Of course, someone pointed out that the bias could be in the selection process itself, and that the gurus have to be of a suitably high standing before standing any good chance of being invited as speakers, but I would like to think that Web 2.0 is for everybody, irregardless of age.
(2) Where were the locals during Q&A?
Apart from my colleagues who were present as speakers or moderators, I didn't see any of the 180+ local delegates asking any question during the panel discussions on both days. Where are they? The panel discussion on Day 1 was quite OK, and the Day 2 session was interesting in the sense that when there was no question from the floor, the panel members started to shoot questions at speakers from Day 1 now seated amongst the audience, and Patrick Danowski was the very obliging Target Number One. And some folks later asked a blanket questions for every panel member to answer.
(3) Playaway is here by the way...
I spotted my fellow working committee member (Ian) holding what looked like a VHS box and was about to tease him about it ("what's VHS doing at a Web 2.0 conference?" I was going to ask) when I realised that it was a product sample from the Follett booth. The guy manning that booth told us that when he was working at the Singapore American School as a librarian, these ready-to-play audio books (rechargable batteries + earphones included) were very popular. While this is an innovative product and omits the ownership of a personal MP3 player (great for those who can't afford one), I couldn't help but wonder if any library would consider recharging that many batteries on a daily basis.
(4) Conferences are not the best time for Web 2.0 activities
OK, we had laptops with Internet connection set up - with sponsorship from iCell - and there's even wireless coverage for those with their own laptops and handheld devices too. However, the structure of the venue was such that only those seated against the rear wall could get any decent signal. Brian Kelly - who was one of the speakers - had volunteered to help do 'live' blogging for us, but in the end, he was only able to cover Day 1 from the Ballroom as the function room he was speaking in on Day 2 had no wireless coverage. But of course, the limited connection didn't stop some people from Twittering.
(5) Speakers hate time-keepers
I had the unenviable job of being the timekeeper @ the Ballroom on both days, and as I learnt over the 2 days, timekeepers are the bane of speakers. Each time I flashed the "5 minutes left" signboard, some of the speakers would remark - over the microphone - if I had gotten the time wrong or why were they cut short. I would then defer to the person chairing the tracks for their decision on cutting the speakers some slack or otherwise. One speaker even misread my hand gestures (signalling 5 minutes) as "15 minutes left". And because I was carrying my sign board around the entire day, some of my colleagues started calling me the '5 Minute Man'. :-(
(6) You get to know your colleagues better at conferences
Apart from being in charge of the official website and blog and all the various Web 2.0 apps linked to those, I was also in charge of packing, AV testing and being the unofficial paparazzo at the conference. These experiences provided me with the opportunity to have an insight of some of the colleagues I hardly meet in my regular course of work. For instance, I had no idea that the HR folks were such efficient packers. Or that their babies were of almost the same age as mine. Or that they could really pose for candid shots.
(7) Some of us nearly became overnight millionaires
OK, this is probably going to lead to some long term vendetta: The hotel room which was issued to us on the evening of 15 Oct was room number 418... which was also the number of the first prize for 4D on the same night. Unfortunately for us, we only checked in at 7pm on 15 Oct, thereby missing the chance to score big. :-(
