Ready for Vardi-gras?
by Gil Rosen

A year ago, following TheMarker’s “Com.vention” (a very high profile Internet convention in the local Israeli scene) I wrote a post about my Uncom.ventional thoughts.
I pulled this post out of the closet when I registered this year, to recap my after thoughts. This time I am adding my ‘bet’ in advance. My notes are inline in CAPs - tell me what you think:

• Internet Access - All the conventions I have been to in the past 2 years had wi-fi. In all of them going on line is a nightmare – no connection, slow connection, bad connection – am I missing something or are the organizers cheap?

THE ANSWER IS YES - AND NO CHANGE THIS YEAR.

• Web 2.0 - to be cool or to be fool?

HMMM - STILL A TRICKY ANSWER. YOU DEFINITELY HAVE TO BE MORE SOPHISTICATED THIS YEAR BUT MORE OF A CHANCE TO BE A FOOL

• Truth or Dare? - How can an Ex entrepreneur, now successful VC panelist answer the question “Are we witnessing the emergence of a second bubble” with a straight face? He as well as many other “guru’s” fluked their way into money during the big bubble – what do they know?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - AND THIS TIME I HAVE PROOF (TO BE DISCLOSED AT A LATER DATE)

• Yossi Vardi 1 - Israeli’s go- “Remind me what Yossi Vardi did after ICQ?” The rest of the world - “ICQ is one phenomenal success – respect”

THE ULTIMATE PRIME MINISTERS/ PRESIDENTS PENSION PLAN - WELL PAID LECTURES.

• Yossi Vardi 2 - Having said that….does every dot.com convention in Israel have to turn into a Yossi Vardi “we are not worthy” fest?

YES - ALSO KNOW AS “VARDIGRAS”.

SERIOUSLY THIS TIME - HE IS A TRUE PHENOMENON WHO PROMOTES THE LOCAL INDUSTRY A LOT

• Dress code - Do lucky individuals who have made a huge exit get an automatic ‘pass’ to under dress? Will I do that (not if…when ).

YES…AND YES

• Babble’bation - Is the internet the mother of all channels or just another channel – I heard “definitely yes, but in certain ways not, when it comes down to it we’ll have to see how it plays out”. Oh’ by the way, it was the same person who gave that answer…hiding it in a cleaver 10 minute babel’bation . Some panelists have no shame.

NO SHAME - PANELIST ARE UNDER AN OBLIGATION TO MAKE 20 SECOND ANSWERS AT LEAST 2 MINUTES LONG (I SAW THEIR CONTRACT )

• The Google Shadow - There was a Panel called – “How Google disrupts and creates businesses” - copy paste the answer from the above. Its like dah…can I get some answers please…

HERE’S A CHANGE - NOW ITS HOW DO OTHERS DISRUPT GOOGLE FROM MAKING TONS OF MONEY. SEE ANER’S GREAT LAST POST

• The Blogsphere is a myth - Amit Shafir - President of AOL’s premium services said that the recent blogging / self reporting trend will come and go – unofficial quote - “the effectiveness of writing and distribution is maximized through centralized portals” (such as AOL). Is he a fool or prophet? BTW – he admitted that he gets much better information by speaking to his 14 year old daughter then he gets by paying tons of $$ to marketing research firms at AOL – with that I won’t argue.

IF SOMEONE TURNS OUT TO BE THIS STUPID THIS TIME - I AM PULLING MY MEGAPHONE OUT AND INTERVENING

• The Long Tail - I was exposed to the “The long tail” theory for the first time – like it! This is the one time I am for the tail that waggles its dog.

MY GUESS IS THAT ITS NOT GOING TO BE MENTIONED AS MUCH. IT WAS A HOT BUZZWORD LAST YEAR. THIS YEAR DRM, UGC AND MOBILE SEARCH ARE.

• ROI - Conventions in general – wasted time or invested time?

NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE DAMM MEASURED. WE ALL NEED SOME TIME AWAY FROM THE OFFICE TO REGROUP AND SEE EACH OTHER FACE TO FACE. PRICELESS. AND DON’T GIVE ME THIS “OHH NO I LOST 8 HOURS OF EMAILS AND MEETINGS…BOOOHOOOO”

• Real time blogging - What’s the maximum sentence for breaking the blogger’s sacred law #23? – you must report live from any visited convention floor with short and succinct posts loaded with info and smart insights.

WILL PROBABLY NOT DO IT - SEE WIFI EXCUSE ABOVE.

BOTTOM LINE - WE GO, WE MEET, WE ENJOY THEN WE COMPLAIN…AND REGISTER AGAIN THE NEXT YEAR.

SEE YOU THERE.

Gil Rosen
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