Web2Open, a free unconference within Web 2.0 Expo, starts tomorrow, and we’ve got a new twist: after some really good speed-dating suggestions from you, we’ve been inspired to try speed Q&A.
Here’s how it’s going to work: we’ll have 50 minutes, five prominent people and five tables, one each for programmers, designers/UI specialists, marketing/community experts, businesspeople and undeclared. The prominent people–who are, I’m delighted to announce: Clay Shirky, Kara Swisher, Matt Cutts, Saar Gur and Tim O’Reilly–will each hold a nine-minute informal Q&A at a table, and then we’ll ring a bell to have them switch tables. The session is tomorrow (Weds) at 2:40p in the Web2Open rooms, second floor of Moscone West. With strong attendee participation, this really ought to be a fun and interesting experiment.
I’ve describe the other pre-scheduled Web2Open sessions below the fold–an intriguing collection of conversations that doesn’t even include the ones attendees will create on site.
In addition to offering the traditional open grid, where participants sign up on site to lead discussions, we’ve also pre-scheduled a handful of very cool sessions:
* Three Hybrids: We’ve picked three sessions in the main conference track that will be open to all Web2Open attendees: Creating a Coherent Social Strategy for Business, Taking Web 2.0 Offline and On the Desktop and Influence Is Overrated. Those presenters will then follow up with discussion sessions in the Open.
* Four round-table discussions, each with a panel of people passionate about their topics: Small Business Hacks; UI for Data Portability; Troll Whispering; and Social Responsibility for Web 2.0 Businesses: Geeks Doing Good.
The Open is free, and you can register on site. For info, check out the Web2Open wiki.