Internet World: Traveller’s Notes

Spent the morning at Internet World and will be back tomorrow. However, for anyone who didn’t go today, let me give you the benefit of my initial reconnoitre:

1. Don’t arrive first thing. Such was the excite­ment that greeted the opening of the doors that there was a real scrum to get through, akin to Top Shop opening to Kate Moss col­lec­tion yes­terday. Sail through 30 minutes later would be my advice.
2. They have a ‘system’ for printing out your name badge from your internet regis­tra­tion number. If you arrive during the scrum, someone will nick your badge to avoid waiting an extra minute for their own. That means you have to go back to the entrance and fill in the form again. By this point, you will be fuming — see point one, above. [If anyone meets a version of Ian Delaney who appears well-​​dressed, youthful and phys­ic­ally fit, give them a clip round the ear from me].
3. You might want to drop the laptop. No power sockets and no free wi-​​fi will turn the thing into a point­less burden after 2–3 sessions.
4. If you go to a seminar, do sit next one of the PA speakers. The place is really loud and people on the second row of some sessions I attended were com­plaining that they couldn’t hear.
5. This is very much a business conference/​show. Don’t expect too many geeks in heavy metal t-​​shirts and trainers. Do expect a lot of suits. The Web 2.0 display area contains 5 tiny coffee tables. Email DM com­panies, on the other hand, command half the hall.
6. Plan your seminars. They were the main thing I went for, yet I ended up missing a couple that I really wanted to go to. One due to identity theft, but one due to poor planning. There are as many as six on at the same time. The Keynote stage was really packed for every session, but some of the other sessions are really good and have lots of spare seats to spread out on.
7. If you are meeting anyone who doesn’t have their own stand, make better arrange­ments than ‘I’ll ping you an email’. See point 3.
8. It’s in Earl’s Court 2 — so West Brompton is a better stop to aim for than Earl’s Court, all other things being equal.

See you tomorrow, perhaps, when I’ll have dropped that AC/​DC t-​​shirt. I really had the feeling that the event was geared towards ‘main­stream catches up’ rather than ‘come and see the cutting edge’, but am happy to be proven wrong.

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