LeWeb has a very active official bloggers community from around the world and is proud to open its blog to guest posts from them, in addition of providing easy access to their posts about the conference. Here is a post by Donna Jackson from Switzerland.
TOP APP Jack Dorsey of Twitter started us off on a high note with SQUARE definitely the favourite app. A cool payment system you can use on your smart phone, it was a hit with everyone as Loic tested it on stage with his iphone and effected a payment. He also announced twitter plans for a developers camp in San Francisco in 2010.
The business plan is expressed in the image above, my photo taken from the screen at the conference. The wifi worked well much to everyone's relief this year.
TOP SPEAKER AND FORCE FOR CHANGE must go to Her Majesty Queen Rania who blew everyone away with her flawless delivery, warmth and Tech saviness.
I was lucky enough to have a brief moment to greet her and congratulate her on her speech as she left the speakers room where she had discussions with Twitter and Facebook to bring about change in education, health and opportunity for the women and children without access to education and the services we don't give a second thought to.
TOP MOMENT meeting my NY Times Bestseller list, "Crush it" friend, Gary Vee outside the Mayors cocktail party in the magnificent City Hall of Paris. Our group snapped us together and sang out "Ah the two wine people finally together in Paris!" We had a quick catch up before we went out to eat.
The following day his session had the audience stirred up and shouting for more as he delivered his legendry thunder. Then, in an equally serendipitous moment, I was wandering down an empty street in the Marias to attend a dinner, when who should I bump into again along rue Sévigny, but Gary and two friends. We swapped winestories, spoke about our projects and he very proudly showed me his baby girl on his phone. He is truly an inspiration and his message of be grateful and execute on your plans really resounds with me. Great to see you Gary! Italy awaits your Crushing!
TOP TRUST AGENT Chris Brogan, another of my mentors, who is such an all-around nice guy. He strips out the bs from social media and tools and gets back to basics on how to connect and build trust. His book Trust Agents, also on the NY times bestseller list and in its third printing, is a must read. We got to chat and hang out. My forthcoming chat with him here will give the best indicator of his approach to marketing your company online.
TOP PARTIES definitely the boat on the Siene with a view of Notre Dame and then the Mayors cocktail party at City Hall Hotel de Ville, so beautiful with the enormous Christmas trees.
TOP MEMORIES Walking to every party and event there was, from the romantic boat on the Siene to the VIP cocktail parties and coffee/beer night, we rode the metro and I even took a late night bus back to Gare du Nord with @Vascellari and then a taxi to my hotel. My off the wall, ludicrous interview with Paul Carr writer and card, on leaving London for LA and his list.
The united nations of bloggers: our cool team spent the evenings and late nights together -- @vascellari @clopin @ernohannink @icedsoul @tigertwo @hikari @MihaelaDraghici @liviacolare -- not one of us lived in the same country. We attended all the parties using the metro to crisscross Paris, walked all over the Marais and to our hotels, past the Louvre at night, very pretty, with all the twinkly lights. We made the VIP room (a nightclub) too, but nobody could afford the 20 Euro drinks, so we left and had coffee on the way home laughing till our stomachs ached and getting very little sleep.
TOP RESTAURANTS We ate out with fun bunch each night. On the first night, between parties that we walked across town to get to, we found a lovely restaurant in Saint Michel with a friendly owner called Red and ate duck and mashed potatoes followed by a crème caramel that was delicious with fabulous Bordeaux. Last night we also ate a lovely meal in a Fish Resturant in the lanes of Marais where a two course meal called a "formula", main course of filet, or Fiorentina steak, fish or whatever you wanted, was prefaced by a lovely starter. I had paté and red onion marmalade, and it cost just 13 Euro.
TOP HOTELS Admired the very elegant fashiondraped Hotel Pulitzer in rue du Fauborg, but couldn't stretch to that, so stayed in the arty bright place at Filles du Calvaire, nice area. The Hotel de Ville just down the road from Rue Curial 3 at the le web venue was affordable, clean, comfortable and friendly with free wifi. Good tip for next year if you can get in.
TOP NO REPEAT The restaurant near the Marais called L'Etincelle, 42 bis Rue de Rivoli, who robbed us, as small beer was 11 Euro and the food was overpriced and average. The sting came when Nancy discoved her phone had been nicked, and had to report it to the police. The crushing of my iphone in the street, it lasted till I got home and then crashed. Luckily I managed to download all the pics onto my apple just before it crashed.
TOP REASON TO ATTEND AGAIN NEXT YEAR I wouldnt miss it! A wonderful time of seeing old friends and meeting new ones whose blogs you've been reading for years, like Tara Hunt whose twitter handle is @Missrogue, Laura Fitton who blogs as @pistachio and Cate who blogs as @Cupcate. We expanded our minds and our inner circle of collaborators.
I also met an amazing French lady called Agatha, who recycles old mobile phones to grunge customise them as the latest trend phones, but that's my next post on Wisequeen.com. My LeWeb'09 flickr stream will give you a taste of it.
Donna Jackson started blogging professionally in 2004 and blogged on finance for b5media after living and working on four continents. She now blogs independantly on tech and startups from London to Rome. Her blog Wisequeen.com covers brandbuilding, building a social media empire using new media, VCs, Angel Investing and the Eurotech scene. She has an office in Switzerland where she blogs on the Zurich tech scene and networking, and in her spare time she nurtures her wine collection and garden at her home on Lake Como Italy.
