5 reasons to attend Internet Week Europe in London

Running from 7-11 November 2011, Internet Week Europe is a five-day festival of events in London, celebrating Europe’s thriving Internet industry and reflecting Europe’s position as one of the core creative centers of the Internet world. You will be able to monitor all our Internet Week Europe coverage here.

Last year, Internet Week Europe featured more than 125 events, attracting more than 10,000 attendees in the process. These were organised and presented across London by 69 different companies, including Yahoo!, BBC Comedy, Yelp, Google, Skype, The Guardian and more.

This year, in addition to the 200+ events taking place across the city, The Hospital Club is the chosen HQ for Internet Week Europe, a space designed for creatives and it will come replenished with interactive art and design, content, and installations for the event – it’s here there will be a pretty impressive array of keynotes, panels, workshops and more. You can follow the full calendar of events from the Internet Week Europe mobile Web app, and mark your favorites, by visiting m.internetweekeurope.com on your browser.

So without any further ado, here’s 5 reasons to get involved during Internet Week Europe 2011.

1. The Hospital Club HQ

The first-ever Internet Week Europe HQ at The Hospital Club will feature two spaces for curated content, including art from Jason Bruges Studio & Framestore, and interactive installations from companies like Yahoo!, Vitamin T, SapientNitro, LinkedIn & Skype. This is in addition to the 200+ events happening elsewhere across the city.

The Hospital Club will be serving as the hub for all festival-goers, and a pass to attend the week of curated content and installations will cost £40+ VAT (or £30 if you pay with a tweet). The venue will host themed talks over 4 days, so you can pick and choose depending on which ones take your fancy:

• Startup Day: Monday 7 November
• Advertising & Creativity Day: Tuesday 8 November
• Social Media Day presented by Wildfire Interactive:  Wednesday 9 November
• Mobile Day: Thursday 10 November

2. It’s a festival, not a conference!

Much in the same way as Glastonbury is a festival not a concert, Internet Week Europe (IWE) brings together an eclectic mix of Web and tech, celebrating the entire breadth of the Internet – the mix of attendees is unlike any other digital event the EU has, and you can take your pick from what’s on offer. IWE is a festival, not a conference!

3. Art and interactive installations: Free ice-cream

The Hospital Club will feature two spaces for curated content, art from Jason Bruges Studio & Framestore, and interactive installations from companies like Yahoo!, Vitamin T, SapientNitro, LinkedIn, Wildfire Interactive & Skype.

Indeed, you can visit the Share Happy SapientNitro smile-activated ice cream machine as many times as you like, and there will be interactive installations throughout the space.

4. The (free) Yahoo! Provoke Summit

The inaugural Yahoo! Provoke Summit is running on Tuesday, November 8th, from 15.30-17.30 at The Hospital Club.

The summit will bring together the digital and creative industries in a forum designed to provoke debate, discussion and ideas. So – who’s on stage? Andrew Cracknell, Former Executive Creative Director and author of ‘The Real Mad Men’; Krane Jeffery, Head of Yahoo! Studio; Paul Kemp-Robertson, co-founder/Editorial Director at Contagious; Richard Morris, Deputy Managing Director, Carat; and Anrick Bregman, Interactive director, unit9.

This particular event is free to attend, so to register your interest click here.

5. The Ticket Giveaway

The Next Web has 25 tickets to give away to The Hospital Club HQ – they’re first come, first served so you need to be quick. Simply go to the register page, enter your details, hit ‘Check Out’ and then you’ll be prompted to enter a discount code – for that, you should enter: TNW<3IWE.

Update: Please note, the ticket giveaway is now over, but you can still knock £10 of the ticket price by paying with a tweet, which will get you a discount code. At the point of ordering, simply hit ‘Pay with a Tweet’.

The need to knows…

Event: Internet Week Europe 2011
Date: 7th-11th November 2011
Where: Across London, see calendar. The main HQ is at: The Hospital Club, 24 Endell Street, City of London, WC2H 9HQ
Cost: The pass for the main HQ events costs £40 +VAT for the week, or £30 +VAT if you ‘pay with a tweet’. Prices for other events across the city will vary.