So I have come down with a terrible head cold. I’m blogging from bed, but only because I have the laptop handy and don’t have the energy to get up and go to my desk.

Got back from Gnomedex in Seattle last night and wanted to just write up some observations. I did do the live blog of the event, which you can read here and here. As the conference went on it got harder to keep up with (my live blog) as I was interacting more with the attendees through twitter, irc and other mediums.

Best of Show

Guy Kawasaki was the best presenter at this year’s show, hands down. He had the aura, the cache, the charisma and the credibility to be the keynote speaker - which he wasn’t. Why? I have no idea. I am hoping it was due to a scheduling thing and not that he was overlooked for Sterling Allan, which I will get to later.

The audience was enthusiastically engaged in his presentation and of all of the presenters he taught me the most.

Greg Spiridellis from Jib Jab was runner up for best presenter at show. Whereas I was really excited to hear from Kawasaki, I was a little less pumped for Greg’s presentation. I always thought the Jib Jab stuff was pretty lame. Just being honest here, i didn’t see how a company could survive (to say nothing of thrive) off of animated cartoons with cut out heads. I was so pleasantly surprised by Greg and what he and his brother have done. He seemed to be the most prepared of all of the speakers, had the best slides and had the best tech to actually show off. We got to see a beta of a product they are working on called "Starring You" which has the potential to revolutionize online greeting cards.

Darren Barefoot, the wiley Canadian, had some cool content for us as well. The premise of his talk was about doing good in the world and how to measure that. He talked about all the ways you can volunteer your time online to help with causes in third world countries. The tone of his talk was optimistic (contrasted to the speaker before him, Robert Steele) and uplifting. Really enjoyed Darren’s remarks.

The Not So Much of the Show 

I hate to use the word "worst" to describe this next group of presenters because as a presenter myself I know it takes a lot of courage to go on stage and show your stuff. Instead, I will just say that this list of presenters didn’t do it for me and leave it at that.

Jason Calacanis has to top this group. I’ve read a lot about this guy but you know, you can’t believe everything you read. Well, I left with a lower opinion of him than I started with, which I should say wasn’t much. Jason came to the conference to pitch his company, Mahalo.

Mahalo for those who aren’t aware is basically a spin off of what Yahoo was in the early 90s. A directory of sites that is maintained by hand. The problem he is trying to solve (he would call it spam, everyone else would call it SEO or "doing business online") is one that he aims to solve by hiring thousands of people to validate whether or not a website should be ranked on its content quality. Sounds like a utopia, but what about biases in the review staff? What about scalability?

Jason was really the only speaker of the day to be heckled by the attendees - and it was from more than one, although if you follow such drama online you would think it was just Dave Winer. The point is, Mahalo is a very flimsy concept that has no chance of succeeding. That doesn’t make me sad in the least.

The keynote of the conference was given to Sterling Allan of Pure Energy Systems. This was a train wreck from the start. I know there were was a lot of excitement for this talk but it just never delivered. Sterling was pitching the concept of "open source energy" and leading a discussion into alternative ways to produce power (think cold fusion).

Problem is, he had nothing to show. Here is someone at the leading edge of the science and by his own admission had yet to see any of these experimental/hypothetical technologies work. What’s more, at one point when someone asked how these projects might receive funding he had the audacity to suggest Google AdSense.

Google freaking AdSense??

Some other notable blunders included Geek Brief TV which was unwatchable (in fact, as unwatchable as the podcast that they put out on itunes). I seriously walked away from their presentation thinking that Cali Lewis (which isn’t even her real name) is just basically faking her interest in tech so she can have a cooshy job working at home.

Edit Aug 21 - Want to just note that as time has gone by I may have come across too harsh on Cali and Neal for their presentation. One, I don’t know them whatsoever and presuming to know their motives for having a online show is pretty stupid. Second, even though these were and ARE the impressions I had of their presentation, I give Cali a lot of credit for coming here and debating my views.

Was Gnomedex worth it? Yes, it was. I had a great time. Chris and Ponzi did a fantastic job. The only thing I’d like to see changed for next year is to perhaps have more "A" level speakers, even if that cuts the conference down to 1 day instead of 2. Maybe do some things to promote attendees working in groups so they can get to know each other better, like having small break out sessions. I know the object is to have 1 track but it would be awesome to be able to interact with the presenters in smaller groups. Just some thoughts.

BTW the Eyejot contest for the iPhone? RIGGED!

Category: Commentary, Tech

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