Whats in a name? I dunno, ask Loic

So LeWeb3 fourth edition, '07 draws to a close and leaves me with a confused set of emotions. As I sit in a cafe at Gare du Nord, I am feeling a strange combination of excitement, concern, happiness, amazement and anger.

I will start positively. Although entirely subjective, I think the conference succeeded in bringing some interesting, bright and talented minds together, putting some on the stage, others on irc.freenode.net#leweb3 and a few more on twitter, and got people talking about some of the new toys, problems, issues, hopes and fears of The Internet. I state the Internet as this was not all about The Web as the title indicated.

Keeping this brief (as my train's coming soon), I shall spare you the usual summative highlights lowlights foo and say more what I think overall. The speakers in attendance were generally excellent, the likes of Kevin Rose of Digg Pownce and others, Evan Williams(twitter), my usual faves, JP and doc along with the idiosyncratic but amazing french designer Phillippe Starck were among the better ones. Speaking of idiosyncracies, it did seem an odd setup. Odd insofar as being likable to a "Friends of Loic le Meur" gathering. Some talks were cut short in light of earlier overrunnings despite some of those being some of the more salient issues (VRM with Doc Searls comes to mind). Particular sessions were wildly off topic, much to the dismay of the irc'ers and twitter clan. My colleague Robbie asked a very valid question during this session, to which the speaker panel basically sidestepped (read more here). At least the food left no sour tastes in the mouth, well done there.

Overall, hmmm. I'm left wanting more of some, less of other and better overall, apart from the company. I met some brilliant, interesting people here and hope to keep in touch with new friends and look forward to new relations. Now then, wheres that train...