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Published on LIFT conference (http://liftconference.com)

Feedback: It rocked!

By Dannie Jost
Created Feb 11 2008 - 15:14

First of all, congratulations to the team of LIFT. You have worked like fools and loved like giants, and I do feel very loved and privileged by being part of such an event. Each and every LIFT for the past three years has changed my life in one way or another. This year my personal insights started to pour in some time during the wee hours of Saturday while roaming the streets and clubs of Geneva.

However this feedback is not about me and my belly button or my fictional diversions that are so very entrenched in my own narrative, this is about the part that I usually send to Laurent via email, but that now needs to go on the public record. I already gave Laurent one big hug on Friday afternoon.

You guys - the LIFT team - must know that I have some experience with dealing with other events of this nature and that I have deep appreciation and respect for the immensity of the work that goes behind the scenes. Thank you all for the effort, the lost sleep, the raw nerves and what is invariably the unavoidable fatigue.
So here is what I liked about this year and what I did not like.
What I liked:

  1. One track. It was more relaxing. It was good to sit and listen, make a few notes, check out the buzz, or just brainstorm with my neighbour.
  2. The Workshops were an integral part of the conference, not something sort of not really part of the program. I gave one workshop and participated in another. I loved being able to sit in a workshop - Pedro's Online Communities Clinic - and just engage with the matter. It was a great workshop, and it went way above any expectations that I had. I learned something. We looked into the LIFT online community.
  3. The lunch buffets were good and added to the relaxed atmosphere.
  4. Fantastic to have one hour breaks to engage in all sorts of activities around conversation, discussion, coffee, media and hugs.
  5. I liked the ubiquitous act of creation and expression that were present.

What I did not like:

  1. No questions after the presentations. Even if nobody asks anything, I want to have the possibility of asking. I want permission to interact. Thanks Bruno for breaking through that one and allowing questions after Kevin Warwick's presentation.
  2. The panel discussions disappeared, it seemed to me that they were swept under the rug somewhere.
  3. The venture night sucked. Really, it sucked IMHO.
  4. The location for the closing party was lousy in terms of logistics. There was one single toilet stall for both men and women. Get more space, it is fun to party and talk after so much has been fed into our brains. I do not care if I have to pay for the drinks... but please more space, more toilets.
  5. What was the buddy list for? There is much too little interaction possibility within the site. I want a chat room in there. Did I miss something? Was there one?
  6. I missed interaction possibilities that did not require the use of a computer. I get bored with twitter and jaiku did not have a dedicated channel or I did not get to find out about it.
  7. Keyword tags were missing for the individual profiles although they were there last year. Do bring them back.
  8. I miss the possibility of threading the conversations within the site like in a wiki. Ok, I am a lazy bum when it comes to putting in my own html tags for linking stuff. I want automatic everything.
  9. The amiando name tags were ugly.

It rocked really. Now get back to work and make it rock to a different tune next year!



Source URL:
http://liftconference.com/feedback-it-rocked