Entries RSS · LeWeb '08 Conference sucked big time
I attended LeWeb, a conference dedicated to…the Web industry, almost 2 weeks ago in Paris. I apologize not to have blogged before, but December was a frantic month, business-wise, and I wish I could blog during the conference but as you may have read on the blogosphere, there was no Internet. On top of that, I wanted to leave some time before I blogged to check whether my words would soften.
I arrived at Le Web, investing a lot of time (2 full days) and money (more than EUR 800, that is to say around USD 1100 – which is a lot of money for what I got), with very high expectations, and I have to say that this conference was a huge disappointment to me. Actually, it was more of a disappointment: I actually found Le Web ’08 conference to be a huge piece of crap. Here’s why.
The organizers: Loïc & Géraldine Le Meur
Prior to the conference, I was a big fan of Loïc Le Meur. The guy looked like Midas to me: everything he touched became gold. The guy gets people lining up to invest in his startups (look at his list of investors in his last startup Seesmic here, impressive). Loïc understood that blogging was going to be big before everyone, and positioned himself accordingly (a huge blogger and founder of Six Apart, the editor of TypePad). Loïc is also an early investor in LinkedIn, my favorite web app, and recently founded and funded Seesmic that I find to be a very cool video conversation platform. Well, the guy seemed to be the perfect investee for VCs, and the perfect investor for entrepreneurs. However, when it comes to organizing conferences, I would tend to say it’s not there yet. Loïc and his wife Géraldine have been organizing the Le Web event for something like four years. Last year already, criticism had emerged, but overall comments were positive. Well, after attending one Le Web conference, I can only blame myself for not having due diligenced better: I wasted my time and my startup’s money.
The theme
Love. This year’s Le Web conference was about love. At first sight, I found this theme brilliant – too bad the idea wasn’t well executed. Love is a universal value that is only discussed in novels and Vogue. Plus, Love is the perfect theme if you want to think an outside-the-box conference program. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case at all. Although there were a number of supposedly quality speakers, most didn’t actually mention the theme, and I guess some didn’t even know that the theme was Love (Marissa Meyer of Google, Didier Lombard of France Telecom, Maurice Levy of Publicis, to name some of them…). I think it’s a big waste, because having a truly deeply-thought consistent program around Love, with at least some continuity between speakers, could’ve made of Le Web a truly mainstream event rather than just a reunion self-proclamed visionaries.
The speakers
Speaking of self-proclamed visionaries, I had a hard time looking for new ‘stars’ on Le Web panels. Or even just interesting content.
Paulo Coelho is a brilliant man, but he had nothing to do at Le Web: his speech didn’t bring anything new, it was self-promotion, and an uninteresting one as a matter of fact. Same with Susan Wu from Ohai, preaching her church (virtual goods): boring slides, boring intervention.
Didier Lombard was absolutely out of scope too. He basically paid to get on stage. And you could feel it.
I was very disappointed by Maurice Levy from Publicis (and by the questions asked by Loïc Le Meur: boring) – the guy could’ve given us interesting insights on web advertising. Instead, we had a boring “fireside chat”, as they say. I liked one thing about Maurice Levy though, he publicly gave his email address saying he was looking for startups to invest in.
Startup competition updates were extremely repetitive; the only thing you could here was “despite the crisis, there are still a lot of innovation around; I’m thrilled by what I saw in the startup competition room”. Except that when you looked at the jury in the room, they were all on their Blackberry or iPhone aswering emails.
I liked Yossi Vardi, Chris Anderson, John Buckman (good tips for entrepreneurs), Marissa Meyer (a few insights on the Google roadmap, like wanting to take Chrome out of Beta) & Joi Ito though.
The sponsors
Le Web’s official sponsor was no company else than Microsoft, the tech giant that probably least understands the Web provided the very poor quality of its online applications, like Hotmail, or its total absence of the collaborative web apps landscape outside its expensive minority stake in Facebook. The good news is, Microsoft folks are smart asses and let some selected startups (some of them embedding no single Microsoft technology) demo their applications rather than demo Microsoft products. Microsoft alone paid Le Web USD 110,000 or EUR 80,000 to get its brand on top of others, rent a lounge space, and get speaking time.
Google also was a sponsor of Le Web – they had Microsoft move first when it came to getting the “official sponsor” title. Google had a special room dedicated to presenting its own stuff during day 1. Nothing new there, except that Google brought in speakers on a number of topics like Adwords, APIs, etc. I guess the fee also included the 2 keynotes Google got. If I were Google, I would, to ensure a maximum buzz around my brand, not attend or sponsor Le Web. That would make the entire conference speak about the absence of Google whilst the whole web revolves around the Google search engine. Google being a sponsor amongst others makes of it a regular company. Too bad.
There were other partners, like SwissCom that sucks big time (they had a booth, and did not manage to make the Internet work during the entire conference + Loïc Le Meur says they got paid more than USD 100,000! to make nothing work), Facebook (?), SixApart & Seesmic who got it for free obviously,…and a number of others that are not worth talking about in this not-so-long post.
The budget, the price
1,400 participants x an average of EUR 1,000 per entrance
Sponsoring & demo room for at least EUR 200,000
The overall budget for this 2-day conference amounted to EUR 1,500,000. Yet, there was no wifi running, definitely not enough food for all participants (I had to go grab a sandwich each 2 days), no consistent editorial line, a crowd of people investing time and a lot of money to listen to the same self-called visionaries on stage.
I haven’t paid myself in one year (I live on my fiancée’s salary), every since I started Verteego. I bought myself a ticket to Le Web almost as a Christmas gift, hoping to enjoy a lot. It was a sort of sacrifice (EUR 850 + 2 days of turnover for Verteego – I’m the sales guy there – is hell of a lot of money! the price of a superb laptop or a great long weekend, say, in Venice) but I was plenty of hopes. The least I could say even 2 weeks after the conference is that I have a very angry feeling at myself: I feel I’ve been financially abused. And I lost two days of hard work during an important period.
The place, and the temperature…
Well, it was free-zing. Which is okay for me, except that with so many people inside, there must have been a sort of natural warmth, which wasn’t the case. I felt this place had the worst energetic efficiency in Paris. This absence of environmental awareness stroke me: the second day, it was warmer. I couldn’t believe how much energy was used to heat the place. I am very disappointed by the overall lack of consciousness of web entrepreneurs for environmental issues: if you are really about changing the world, then you should think about measuring their environmental footprint and take action to reduce it from one year to another & compensate the remainings. But they sure didn’t. And I’m not writing this just to sell Verteego Carbon here: I just don’t understand entrepreneurs to pretend they want to change the World and who don’t care about behaving socially & environmentally responsibly. I think that Le Web, an event that took place in Europe at the same time as the Poznan conference (pre next Kyoto talks in Poland) AND which theme was Love, was just perfect place to ensure Social Responsibility and Sustainability became buzz words in the blogging, startups & VC microcosm. Géraldine & Loïc completely missed the train here.
The startup competition
I didn’t apply to the startup competition. I felt it wasn’t right to make startups pay EUR 1,500 for just a pitch. I was wrong in doing so. The startup competition was probably the only interesting thing during this conference. I paid, as I said, EUR 800+ to go to Le Web Paris ’08 and basically meet with friends. It would’ve been worth paying the double to try and get 7 minutes to pitch Verteego in front of around 300 people. That makes it 5 euros per viewer’s attention, + the backlinks, visibility, and blog coverage you could get later on. Not applying to the startup competition was perhaps my only regret. And that would probably be the only reason I would attend next year.
The food
It was a shame. There’s no other word for it. I could get no food at all, not during the first day, not during the second day. The first day because there was none left. The second because there was no vegetarian food! Both days I went outside for a sandwich. I could then make friends because people were coming to me to ask where I had gotten this.
Worse: during Day 2, I needed to drink water during the day because I caught a cough during Day 1, because of the cold. And I was basically given a negative answer, because the bar was opened neither at 11am, nor at 3pm (which actually made me leave the place). You get 1500 people pay EUR 1000 on average, and there’s no food, and no water???
The Internet
There was very little Internet during the whole conference. Here’s a recap of this lousy situation: not only were you locked in with boring old speakers & because of the price you paid, you couldn’t answer client requests, or blog because of this.
Loïc Le Meur wrote an apologetic post, but I found this post actually ridiculous for him: Le Web gave EUR 100,000+ to SwissCom not to get a service. The excuse is: no provider is used to so many attendants. This is untrue: the very week before Le Web, I attended a huge (20,000 visitors per day!) Trade Show, Pollutec, in Lyon. And there was perfect Wifi.
The attendants
Obviously, I met with many of my existing friends, and I was glad to. I also met with new people from everywhere around the world. Lots of great people there, from everywhere around the World. But come on, at what price…Furthermore, the mindset was rather negative: people weren’t ambitious or optimistic. They should be: the crisis is a great opportunity to move fast whilst remaining lean.
The TechCrunch party
It was so-so, I was disappointed and angry: 1) I had bought my business partner (who hadn’t attended Le Web) a EUR 30 ticket, to be told at the entrance that a pass to Le Web was worth 2 entrances. I think it should’ve been explained somewhere because I basically wasted EUR 30 with no possibility to get a refund. 2) I waited for 30 minutes outside, in line, to get in. And during this time I saw 2 groups of people showing up in front and squeezing the line: I found this very abnormal, because the Web is about democracy, having all the same access to information. 3) the place was very small, but this is less of an issue.
Conclusion
For the price I paid, I got very little value back (basically, the only benefit of Le Web was that I got to see many of my friends in very little time). Rather than apologizing, and provided the HUGE profits this conference made, I believe not reimbursing participants for providing no wifi, no heating, and no food services is irresponsible at that cost. I repeat: rather than blame their food supplier, Swisscom or the Cent Quatre (for the heating), I think Loïc & Géraldine Le Meur should’ve refunded participants for providing such a low standard service rather than making this huge profit (I also think they should display publicly the P&L of the conference). This is the least they could’ve done since giving me back 2 days of work isn’t physically possible. Loïc and Géraldine Le Meur didn’t show any social responsibility here, no respect for their customers.
Last, but not least, those who are not going to complain about Le Web ’08, both in terms of organization and content, are either those who didn’t pay anything to attend, or those who paid so much that blaming the event would make them look stupid.
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Tags: conference, Géraldine Le Meur, Le Web Paris, Loic Le Meur
Entertainment, Entrepreneurship, Europe, Facebook, Friends, Globalization, Internet, Microsoft, Organization, Project Management, Twitter, USA, Venture Capital, innovation, marketing, operations, user-generated content, web2.0
when attending these conferences, it would be great if someone would bring up the explosion of criminality on line and the cybersociopaths who target women and children for violation, molestation and psychological rape!!
I have been illegally wiretapped for 8-years and my cellphone microphone has been activated by a MAD MAN. He routinely breaks into my email and has relentlessly harassed and threatened my family and I for over 8-years.
Yes, the Internet is a great source of information but there is also a great lack of information because SCUM BAGS LIKE THESE MISERABLE BASTARDS who target innocent women do not have enough laws online and enough action by law enforcement to identify them and bring them to justice.
I am being targeted by a MAD MAN who pretends to be a legitimate journalist while he BRUTALLY AND REMORSELESSLY COMMITS THE VILEST AND MOST UNPRECEDENTED CRIMES ON LINE.
Read my blog– http://saynotocyberharassment.wordpress.com/
Jeremy, it sound like you did not wake up on the right foot that day. The leweb pass was worth one entry, it was explained everywhere online. An with a party of about 1000 participants you can expect some line up. Sorry for that. As for refund, we had to pay our provider based on the number of personns that committed to come. Was hard to manage..Next time we ll do better
For the rest i think your point is a bit excessive. i think you are right on many logisitical issues. But you are wrong on the most important: the networking was of world class quality. I have been to many conferences and this one is really outstanding for that. This is actually the only thing that matters.
Ouriel, there’s no being right or being wrong here.
It’s very personal. As far as I am concerned, I don’t think Le Web pass was worth one entry at all (far from it). It doesn’t matter whether some people online said it was: it’s just my opinion. I was ashamed towards my colleagues for having spent 2 days and EUR 850 for such a crappy event.
About the TC Party line: I don’t criticize the line in itself. Fine with me. I criticize the fact that some people bypassed it. This is not a behavior you are supposed to see at an event about the Web.
As far as networking was concerned, it was okay but for that price, I could’ve afforded a return ticket to SF and attended for 2 days the Starbucks Coffee in Palo Alto. Would’ve been more effective.
Jeremy, thank you for this post. I guess we went to the same conference. Disappointment is the keyword of these 2 days. I lost time and money. Besides, when I see the so-called controversies between Loic Le Meur and Michael Arrington, or the Loren Feldman case, along with Pierre Chappaz’s withdrawal, I am somehow disgusted.
However, I don’t understand why quality went so low this year. Last year, I paid less, and it was so much better. Except Wi-Fi, which is apparently the constant parameter in this conference, I had a great time. It allowed me to find business angels (and to raise money), we had plenty of good food, and the atmosphere was warm, and even cosy in some place (the networking lounge). Anyway…
One last thing : I still don’t understand why, at the time where social networks are everywhere, we haven’t been correctly listed online, so as to make connections before the conference starts. It would have been so much easier : a little bio, a mail forwarding system, and everyone could have filled his agenda with appointments during the conference… The networking effect would have been multiplied.
jeremy, thanks for this great post. I think you managed to both rationally and personally sum up a conference not so perfect. There is loads of stuff that needs to improved and I generally see the same points as you mentioned.
I am really curious about le web 09 and thanks for that seesmic investors post…I didnt know that all those guys are in
bye
lukas
Jeremy: You deserve the greatest *thumb up* of all time.
I didn’t attend LeWeb, although I was tempted to, as I’m pretty much involved in the behind-the-scene kind of Internet matters (you know, Broadband, Fiber, new usages, innovation, etc.). I’m glad I did not, after hearing and reading all those negative comments on the event.
I was to write a short note on my blog about that, and decided not to, as it wouldn’t seem fair from someone who actually wasn’t present (hey, remember those journalists who were reporting the attacks on Bagdad from their studios in Paris or Atlanta ?…).
However, as an observer, there are a couple of things which kind of bother me with LeWeb’08: the WiFi story, the heating, the foods & drinks. Definitely not professional at all. You can always blame your contractor: you’re the one who signed the contract, so you’re in charge of its completion. There is a saying in India, about finger pointing: when you point your finger onto someone, you’ve got three of your own fingers pointing at… you. That’s 60% of the failure upon you, not the other guy (who’s got only 20%, and God gets the rest
The large-scale WiFi network as an excuse: come on Folks, ever been waiting for a flight in Roissy Charles de Gaulle, Dubai, or O’Hare ? Those are HUGE WiFi nets, and it works day & night…
On top, of course, there’s the content itself. You know what TED or DEMO are all about. I can’t figure out what LeWeb is about. A $1K networking event during lunchtime ?
This kind of disaster is not a surprise to me. Some months ago, LeMeur asked his readers to give him ideas on where Seesmic should go in near future. I wrote back a comment to him, saying that I didn’t understand the approach, as, to me, based on my own experience, a CEO should be the one who know where to go. And if he didn’t, at least his Strategic Marketing team should. LeMeur’s reply was a masterpiece of typical french arrogance : he knew his business, and I don’t. Today, I’m happy to see that even a guy like him can fail
So, I’ve been commenting LeWeb on a couple of blogs here and there, and was waiting for a post like yours. Absolutely right on target. I sincerely hope you’ll get your money back, one way or another – maybe one guy who talked to you whilst looking for a sandwich will call you someday soon and ask you for a proposal.
post-scriptum: Jeremy, could you please drop me a line in private ? Maybe I can help you a little bit on Verteego.
Most interesting to read your comments from the inside. Having met Loïc at a small scale forum and discussed with him (about Finland !), I found him most attractive and convincing. His great ability to federate people around him is apparently not sufficient to manage high level organizational issues – really a pity.
Seeing the prices of LeWeb I found them outrageous, and reading what really was behind the entrance fee makes me sigh. Especially the non-sustainable side of the conference is very sad ; the love theme should’ve included loving our planet.
Thanks for your insights and let’s see what the guru comes up with next…
HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!!
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