The Next Web

Live Supernova coverage to inspire you, Europeans

Written on June 16, 2008 – 10:26 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Sometimes it’s frustrating being an Internet entrepreneur in Europe. It has all kind of advantages - such as the localization, small and easily accessible communities, and more that I probably don’t have to tell you about. But there’s one thing missing, the magical vibe of San Francisco and the Valley - the “we’re changing the world” kind of thing. As the European industry is fragmented in a dozen cities or more, yet in the Valley everybody’s gathered in one creative focal point. So for us, Europeans, there’s a limited community experience going on.

Esther Dyson talking to Clay Shirky (photo by Geodog)

And now I’m in San Francisco at Supernova 2008, where “CEOs and bloggers, entrepreneurs and academics, practitioners and visionaries, policy experts and industry thought leaders share insights and build relationships.” See? That’s the “we’re changing the world”-mentality I was talking about. I’m surrounded by influentials and leaders like Esther Dyson, Hugh MacLeod, Clay Shirky, Bob Iannucci, Scott Beale and Jeff Clavier who are shaping and defining the future of our beloved industry.

I think we - meaning European web professionals - can learn a lot from conferences like these and I’m looking forward to the day we can welcome such a conference in Europe. For now, I’ll live blog the key notes I think are particularly interesting for you. Would you like me to cover a certain speaker? Go ahead and ask me in the comments or on my Twitter account.

By the way, you might also want to follow Hugh MacLeod’s Twitter feed.

I hope you like that post!

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Bob Iannucci, Clay Shirky, Esther Dyson, Hugh MacLeod, Inspiration, Jeff Clavier, Scott Beale, supernova2008