DISQUS

Phil Jeudy · 1 year ago

We wait for being at LeWeb 2009 Loic. Thank you for the conference!

tommorris · 1 year ago

Loic: the infrastructure issues were not the problem. We could have lived without that stuff if and only if the content was good. Softball questions, meandering panels and pitches for half-baked products do not count.

Darren · 1 year ago

I enjoyed watching bits and pieces of it online and still want to go back and watch the bits I missed.

Wow thats a lot of money to spend on internet and I hope you get it back. Heres a tip for next year, buy everyone a 3g datacard and do a deal with a mobile network. I think the cost would be less and each person gets a 3g modem too :D

I look forward to 09 and who knows I might make it next year.

Yael Rozencwajg · 1 year ago

Loïc,
Some people (like me) just wanted to congratulate you for your huge efforts, even if there were such important problems.
Anyway all I want to say is that we noticed that you made this event with love and that's important: we learnt a lot and we networked and linked with participants like in no other conference.
Next year, you'll do better, I'm sure.
Long life to LeWeb and its team !
Best Regards,

Benoit · 1 year ago

Vous avez accumulé la malchance... Mais c'est du a mon avis d'avoir un truc parfait, surtout de cette ampleur...
Je n'étais pas la (malheureusement) mais je pense que ce n'est pas si facile d'organiser un tel évènement et que la critique est plus facile que l'action...

WBIAwards · 1 year ago

Loic, you did a great job for the industry - Le Web was despite the issues you mentioned a great success. All the problems you had can happen always at events - the main reason why you did a great show was that you still gave everybody a good vibe - i do honour that very much and have seen way too many event organizers getting nuts or supernervous about all issues that can happen during such conferences. You have proven to be a truly professional !! - even some of your "friends" from the valley bitched about the issues even on stage

Michael

Franck Poisson · 1 year ago

LEWEB 2009 : a must ! Swisscom: please go back to Swiss , US speakers: please come back next year, and Loic, let's move to the Palais des Congrès next year.

Julien Pellegrain · 1 year ago

Like Phil, Yael & Franck, no more to add, no more than I've already told you yesterday night ;-)

Julius · 1 year ago

Really appreciate the honesty of the post, it is indeed very bad when you try hard and suppliers let you down!
More luck next year!
Julius

Boyington · 1 year ago

Au regard des commentaires laissés par certains participants, on en vient à regretter le côté "roots" de ce genre de manifestation il y a quelques années. Le web s'embourgeoise! Allez, on attend LeWeb09 avec impatience! Merci Loïc.

Cédric Rainotte · 1 year ago

Even if I were hungry and that I was cold, I enormously appreciated these 2 days.
Thanks for this organization!
Ced

patricegabin · 1 year ago

Mais c'est pas bien grave tout ça Loïc. Il y en aura toujours pour râler sur tel ou tel petit couac, qu'importe les détails, c'était encore un coup de la loi de Murphy ;) L'ensemble était un réussite. Encore bravo et merci. It was a very big and beautiful event and i'm sure LeWeb'09 will be better...

Stephanie Bonnet · 1 year ago

People get spoilt too easily, they want good food (most conferences never have good food, this was actually very good quality and you could always just go and have an easy lunch round the corner with people you met and thus have a truly French experience), they want 100% internet connexion without realizing that this could be their opportunity to really listen to what's going on on stage (as per Chris Anderson's request to close our laptops for 5') and ok, they want to be warm but there was the sauna for it !!!!
Loïc, thanks for your apologies and your honesty. Shame on the providers (who was the caterer so that we all give them a bad reputation online!), especially Swisscom. Tough luck that it was one of the coldest days of the year in France.

I thought the place was great, the content was not always brilliant but some interventions were great and gave you the opportunity to think beyond leweb (loved Chris Anderson, Brian Lock, the metatune guy, etc.).

I'm impressed that you managed to keep your smile throughout the event with all this sh... going on backstage ! Well done you

Emmanuel de Saint-Bon · 1 year ago

Loïc, ne te laisse pas pourrir la vie par des ronchons. Ignore-les.
Bravo pour cette entreprise qu'est LeWeb et pour votre énergie, Géraldine et toi.
Continuez !

Stephanie Booth · 1 year ago

Thanks so much for the explanations! I think a post like this does a lot to apease those who feel cranky about the above issues.

As I said, there is always a lot of noise (also from me, I'll admit it) coming from the "empty half" of the glass -- let us not forget everything that went well. I personally loved the venue, heard some interesting talks (and that doesn't happen to me that often), enjoyed the atmosphere, loved the lounges, and despite being over-tired and stressed out (for non-LeWeb-related reasons) I look back on these two days with pleasure: I had a nice time.

Rachel · 1 year ago

Loic,

the infrastructure problems were and issue and you captured them all. And, as Tom says, some of the interviews were soft, especially the sponsor ones. But on the whole, I got a lot out of it and enjoyed the experience

warzabidul · 1 year ago

There's something I appreciated more than anything else at Leweb this year and it has nothing to do with wifi, 3g or room temperature. It has to do with the people that I had the opportunity to meet. In particular I'm thinking of all the seesmicers that were present. We're a community that is quite spread out and Leweb gave us an opportunity not only to spend two days to talk between ourselves but also to network with people further afield.

Personally I enjoyed Leweb for the people I could meet and the conversations I could have. Being online or being warm wouldn't have contributed that much to my appreciation.

alan p · 1 year ago

As a continuous partial attendant on Le Web TV (which was a fascinating experience in itself by the way - well done on doing that!) I missed the no wifi, food and cold so I was fine :)

But well done on Le EuroTED :) Some of the non web stuff was fascinating, other stuff wasn't, but thats what a Conference is all about

As Tom Morriss says, you have carte blanche to give the presenters a harder time - the IM backchannel certainly was :-)

(I blogged about that - it was a fascinating lesson in itself - see thoughts on that here

http://broadstuff.com/archives/1431-Asymmetric-...)

ledretch · 1 year ago

You brought high level content and speakers, opportunities meeting great people and "long time no see" friends : )
Love was the theme, "Love to share" as said Joi; you've shared everything, a lot and much more.
You had to apologize to feel better, done!

WE LOVE YOU BIG GUY!
Congratulations and Love to Geraldine, who did an amazing job! :)

cannot wait #leweb09 ; )

Henry Michel · 1 year ago

Ta franchise et ton ouverture face aux critiques t'honore. C'est une preuve d'intelligence et de professionalisme. Bravo.

arno · 1 year ago

Loic,

Bravo, moi j'ai adoré surtout le show de gary et le panel d'Ouriel, très instructif. Pour les aspects logistiques, bravo pour la transparence mais bon, c'est souvent difficile. Si tu veux un bon traiteur j'en connais un.

Moi juste une chose m'a étonné. Tu as invité le patron d'Orange et tu as choisi Swisscom comme opérateur, ca m'a surpris.

Encore bravo et bonnes fêtes

gabdesva · 1 year ago

honnetement,

La nourriture était de bonne qualité, meme si c'est vrai que la quantité n'était pas la !

Je pense que les gros appétits ont du halluciné, c'était assez Diet !!

CU

ledretch · 1 year ago

Jean Guitton disait souvent qu'on est plus receptif pour apprendre quand on est mal assis, qu'on n'est pas rassasié et a une temperature inconfortable...
en meme temps, c'etait un philosophe pas un entrepreneur... ; )

davemc500hats · 1 year ago

loic -

as a conference organizer myself I know it's often a thankless job. sometimes even with the best of plans & intentions, "shit happens". that said, I still had a good time, and regardless I accomplished my main objective -- to meet interesting new people & startups from Europe.

if you only succeed in one area, that one seemed to go well :)

congrats, keep iterating, and better luck next year!

I'll be back again :)

Jackie Danicki · 1 year ago

Organizing an event is always a stressful experience, but one on this scale must be an absolute nightmare. I was only there for part of the first day, Loic, and did not see you during that time, but Geraldine was running around trying very hard to make everything work. My heart goes out to you guys - I don't know how anyone can call into question whether or not you tried your best to make this a success. Of course you did!

Also remember: People love to complain! Don't let it get you down. I know you won't. :)

Anand Krishnan · 1 year ago

Food, wireless, heat, whatever - that stuff is noise.

What was cool - startup competition, arrington, winetv, gillmor gang, dan'l, marissa, the guy from U of Manchester, several Day 2 panels in the startup room, networking opps, venue

Would like to see more of - probing questions during interviews, calling BS on stock responses or non-answers

Great job on making this happen. I'm glad that this comes together every year

Natacha QS · 1 year ago

Evoluer, c’est prendre des risques et il est difficile de réussir à 100 %

Le deuxième jour, cela allait beaucoup mieux, et peut-être qu’il faudrait inciter tout le monde à prendre des clefs 3G l’année prochaine ;-)

Merci de continuer à organiser Le Web, pour nous, c’est un rendez vous très riche de rencontres, et nous savons que si Géraldine et toi n’étiez pas là, il n’existerait tout simplement aucun équivalent en Europe.

Natacha & Sacha

shareme · 1 year ago

Loic,

Sorry that you had trouble with organizing LeWeb. If it is any consolation its easy to organize LeWeb right now than obtaining seed capital for a start up right now..

From what I viewed thus far the main audience was happy with the content and thus you did well..

Rick Calvert · 1 year ago

Keep your head up Loic. It looks like most folks had a great time and I wish I could have been there. Dave M is absolutely right. It can be a thankless job sometimes but you are providing a very valuable service to our industry. Please keep it up and I will definitely be there next year!

Rick Calvert · 1 year ago

One more thing I meant to add. Very few people realize what a struggle it is to get good internet service at any conference center. Techcrunch had challenges, Web 2.0 had challenges and I know we have them as well. It is a constant fight to provide quality internet service for our attendees. If people only knew how hard you fight for them they would appreciate it much more.

Loic Lemeur · 1 year ago

thank you all for your comments

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

I used to plan conferences in the 1990s for programmers and we often had some of the same issues. I remember one time asking my audience if the temperature was too cold. Half the hands went up. Then I asked who thought it was too warm. The other half the hands went up. Lesson I learned? If you are pissing off people you probably are doing nothing wrong.

I didn't like the venue because it wasn't intimate for the speakers and audience. But that wasn't something you could have experienced before trying this venue. Especially one that was new, since you wouldn't have been able to sit in a session to check it out yourself. The parts you did have control over, the networking and the content, were outstanding and better than most conferences I've attended this year (and I've attended a lot).

Thanks for putting together a great conference and hopefully sometime soon we'll all figure out how to do conference wifi right. I know a lot of people claim they can do it right, but not many do. I think we need to have a way to compare vendors there so that other conference planners can be warned ahead of time.

andree · 1 year ago

hej
i was just watching a few vids from leweb at ustream. seems like you got a whole bunch of interesting people at one place. nice job.
in regard to your post, what i felt is kind of lacking while watching the videos (might have been due to just watching): is a little more sexiness at the conference. do not know whether thats due to the rather cold environment or due to the geeks ;) - do not get me wrong here, but you might know what I mean...

however, thx for the job, see you

snoopynette · 1 year ago

Merci Loic et Geraldine pour le web. J’ai regarde toutes les videos et suis tres heureuse qu’un tel evenement existe.
J’ai ete contente aussi d’apprendre ton depart pour les Etats-Unis pour fonder seesmic, j’adore l’esprit d’entrepreneur. Ni l’Etat (et surtout pas l’Etat francais) ni personne n’a main sur la liberte individuelle.
J’ai aussi tout de suite aime et vu l’interet de seesmic.
Bravo a vous et a toute l’equipe: j’aime les personnes qui FONT les choses et qui mettent les mains dans le cambouis (gerer toute l’organisation) pas les blablateurs, Y’a qu’a-Faut qu’on-Moi je-Il suffit.
Merci de concretiser tous ces projets et de les faire exister.
C’est aussi a nous auditeurs de nous hausser au niveau de l’evenement; c’est la qualite de nos questions et reponses qui doivent faire l’evenement et pas se contenter d’adopter une attitude passive d’auditeur qui va voir defiler des presentateurs.
Quel est le degre de votre besoin pour ces nourritures spirituelles? Ceux qui n’ont pas faim, qu’ils s’en aillent.

En attendant le prochain le web.

Snoopynette.

Sandrine Plasseraud · 1 year ago

It was my first LeWeb and yes it was cold and the wifi was an issue but I had a great time, met lots of interesting people and I'm already looking forward to the one in 2009!

Nic · 1 year ago

Tout le monde peut avoir des problemes de logistique et on apprend en faisant. Je trouve neanmoins pas du tout profesionel le fait de designer du doigt les boucs emissaires et de nommer precisement les tiers parties et les budgets avec lesquels Loic a travailler.

Guillaume LE COZ · 1 year ago

@Nic Sur ce point là je suis pas d'accord avec toi, je pense justement que c'est une bonne chose de montrer la cause du problème, Swisscom doit prendre la responsabilité de son échec.

nicolesimon · 1 year ago

Well, I got the usual fever and cold (I actually was able to read the tweets and put on some more clothes for the first day but still) and as much as I do not enjoy french cuisine or coffee or the language and yes there where a lot of issues - I actually liked the venue and enjoyed the people I've met again or for the first time.

We had that discussion about the wifi before and this year there where tables and cables for the bloggers. There still being problems is another issue, but there is only so much an organizer can do. Next years provider could impress people with providing deals beforehand for the conference and really *use* this not only to bank money but provide a professional service (one can dream, right?).

From the catering I have met only one friendly person the whole event and it really is a shame that this is what you do get for the money - I suspected already that you paid more than enough for this result yet you should go next year for somebody who actually understands what is needed for such an event of two days. It does not need to be overboard, but most people wanted food instead of 'artsy miniatures'. If that means changing the venue again, it is sad but then has to be. [I'd be happy to write up my complaints about the service to the caterer in regards to not making a professional offering for this kind of event - unflexible, unimaganitive and unresponsive]

Regarding the programme - if you are smart enough to attend leweb you should be smart enough to realize when not to watch a speaker and use the time for networking. If you where just there for the content you should have stayed at home and watched the streams and twitter.

As you said in our interview - it is about the networking. There is more than enough to complain about and also say good about the event, the question is if the sum of everything makes it worth your while to attend or not. This is a decision everybody has to make for themselves and not everybody has the same needs or interests.

Which point did I not like, although I understand why they did not do it? The amount of speakers never mingling with the audience - they gave away a huge chance to increase their personal value / brand and such while others made a huge impression. We should find something for next year which allows both sides to have a win win situation without taking too much advantage of either side.

As said before - as much as I *really* do not enjoy Paris, the food or the language, I am looking forward to next year for another paneuropean event with additional countries in the mix. ;)

David Marcus · 1 year ago

Loic & Geraldine: I was very disappointed of not making it to Paris this year. I followed some panels through Ustream and enjoyed the content I managed to watch. Large scale events are always full or surprises. The only thing I want to say is that people who never organized a single event in their whole life and complain all over the place are real douchebags. They have absolutely no idea of the amount of work and moving parts that come with organizing events, let alone, when you happen to live 6,000 miles and 9 timezones away. As far as I know, there are no other web conferences of that scale in Europe, so keep up the good work, and count me in for 2009! (try to get a penalty clause from the next IP provider for each hour of full downtime ;-)).

Doc Searls · 1 year ago

Loïc, Geraldine, I loved the show -- and your whole team -- for what you tried to do. A big tech conference in a new space with a theme of love is hard to pull off, even if Murphy doesn't prevail. That some stuff didn't work is unfortunate, but forgivable. We live and learn. Life at its best is a constant experiment. Meanwhile the love is the main thing that matters. In fact, it is the only thing.

LeWeb is a work of love, not of greed or opportunism. At that you did a great job this year, and I'm glad I had an opportunity to enjoy it, and to contribute in my own small ways. Please don't be discouraged.( And please don't use Swisscom again.)

Hugs,

Doc

Andrew Paterson · 1 year ago

Geraldine & Loic,

Whatever the outcome; being fast to the gun, straightforward and sincere is the sign of true excellence.

Thank you for the explanations and for your dedication to making this event a great experience for all.

Kind regards,

Andrew Paterson
laneo.org