A Successful Experiment

During Web2Open yesterday, we ran an experiment that turned out to be a big success. Because it felt like a model that could be extended and used by others--but it hasn't been blogged about widely--I'll explain here what we did.

We started with the idea that we wanted to hold a conference speed-dating event. But we didn't have a natural set of pairs who'd want to meet, like VCs and entrepreneurs, or writers and agents. What we did have were a number of well-known experts and a bunch of thoughtful attendees. So we ran small speed Q&As with the experts: we set up five tables, one each for programmers, designers/UI specialists, marketing/community experts, businesspeople and undeclared, and then we had five experts--Clay Shirky, Kara Swisher, Matt Cutts, Saar Gur and Tim O'Reilly--each hold a nine-minute informal Q&A at a table. Every nine minutes, the experts switched tables until they'd hit them all. The whole thing took 50 minutes, plus lots of lingering afterward. It had great energy, and people were smiling the entire time.

Why'd it work? It was intimate (about a dozen people gathered at each table), engaged and informal. All which provided a nice contrast to the general conference. And it required no prep on the part of the experts (except their life work, of course): they just showed up and chatted.

What would we do differently next time? At least two things. 1) We didn't have a bell to signal the 8-minute mark or that it was time to switch tables--so we shouted. That was too much like we were yelling at people. 2) Afterward, Tim said, "That was great, but I wish I'd had time to ask the participants questions." Good point. It would be cool to increase the time per table to at least fifteen minutes and let the experts do some asking--or possibly make it all questions from the experts. (Update: Clay adds two more good suggestions: Make it an hour, with four 12-min sessions, and spend 12 minutes at the beginning introducing the speakers, to give them time and context for the initial questions.)

How would you adapt and use speed Q&A?

Web2Open: Announcing Speed Q&A

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.

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Small Business Hacks at Web2Open

We've got a cool new development on the Web2Open front: Jen Bekman, Don MacAskill and Bryan Mason will be joining us for "Small Business Hacks," an open discussion moderated by Tony Stubblebine.

Particularly neat is that each of them has worked on a Web 2.0 company with a different business model. Jen started 20x200 as a site connected with her gallery; she sells emerging artists' work directly to new collectors. Don is the founder and chief geek at SmugMug, a photo-sharing site that runs on a subscription basis. Bryan is the COO of Adaptive Path, a firm that consults on Web 2.0 design and usability. And Tony is the owner of CrowdVine, an online social-networking service currently focused on corporate sales.

The session is 1:30 - 2:20p on April 24, and with a good mix of perspectives from among the panelists and participants, it ought to be a very lively conversation. Meantime, if you have any small biz hacks to share now, go ahead and post in the comments.

Troll Whispering at Web2Open

Earlier today, Teresa Nielsen Hayden posted the guidelines she uses for moderating the comments on BoingBoing. Of course, not everyone agrees with her take-no-prisoners approach, and her post has drawn some fire. But whether you're a fan (which I am, big time), there's no question that Teresa's advancing our collective understanding of online community dynamics.

If you're grappling with an online community yourself, or if you're just interested in learning more, plan to join Teresa at Web2Open--along with Christy Canida of Instrucables, Amy Muller of Get Satisfaction, and Kirrily Robert of Metaweb--for a juicy discussion of community dynamics. Our "Troll Whispering" session, scheduled for the afternoon of Weds, April 23, will be a great place to share your successes and challenges.

PS. For a dose of inspiration, check out Teresa's own site, Making Light, where she uses the pretty much the same moderation system she does on BoingBoing: it's home to some of the most thoughtful comment threads on the Web.

Seeking Ideas for Conference Speed Dating

Last week, I came across conference speed dating. I immediately fell in love with the idea and wanted to try it at Web2Open. But I'm not sure how to set it up. Seeing as the Open is a community-based event, I'm hoping some of you will have stellar suggestions for making this work.

The basic idea with conference speed dating is that you have two kinds of people who'd want to meet--say VCs and entrepreneurs, or agents and writers, or farmers and chefs. You designate seats for people from the first group, and you let people from the second group meet with them for five minutes each. Then you ring a bell, and while the first group stays put, everyone from the second group moves on to another VC or agent or farmer. The whole thing lasts about 45 minutes, and everybody makes contacts that might pan out into something cool. Awesome, right?

The tricky part for the Open (and the Expo) is that we won't have natural categories like that. So we talked about asking prominent community members to volunteer for the first group (Tim O'Reilly, consider yourself invited), but then we weren't sure how to organize the second group. Assume we can accommodate 20 pairs at a time, and that we'll have 10 five-minute times slots. What happens if more than 10 people want to talk to Tim? And what if somebody from the second group wants to talk to only some of the people in the first group? Or if we have way more than 20 people for the second group and they all want to talk to everyone from the first?

Is there a simple and fair way to set this up in person at the Open? Or on a Website that people can access during the conference? We have a wiki for the Open, but we don't have a ton of programming time. (Btw, we're cross-posting these questions to the Expo/Open CrowdVine.)

Announcing Web2Open 2008

Great news: On April 23 and 24, Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco will host Web2Open, an unconference that anyone can participate in.

To promote connections among attendees and complement the Expo sessions, this year's Open emphasizes discussion sessions over presentations. That means your participation is really key, whether you share your successes, your challenges or your questions.

In addition to the traditional open-grid sign-ups where attendees fill in the sessions you want to discuss, we're also pre-scheduling a handful of roundtables and seeding them with people who are passionate about the topics. These sessions include Social Responsibility for Web 2.0 Companies; Small Business Hacks; Troll Whispering; UI for Emerging Technologies; and iPhone Development. But wait, there's more! We're also organizing three Expo/Open hybrid sessions: presentations in the main conference that will be open to all Web2Open attendees, followed by discussions in the Open. Stay tuned for more info on those.

You need a badge to attend the Open, but you can register gratis using the the code websf08opw (this free badge will admit you to the Web2Open sessions, Expo Keynotes, Show Floor and Launch Pad). Thanks to TechWeb (formerly CMP) and O'Reilly for making this possible.

Btw, Tony Stubblebine and I are co-organizers. See you there!

Web2Summit: Could Google Hit a $1T Market Cap?

This afternoon's panel of four Google Alumni ended with an audience question: Was it insane to consider that Google might reach a $1 trillion market cap? (It's now at about $150 $200 billion.) Or might that actually happen?

I thought, "Ridiculous!" Several of the panelists, however, had a different take. While none said it was imminent or even likely, their earnest answers indicated that they had thought through and discussed those numbers at Google.

Would that question get serious play at any other company on the planet?

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