Alex Iskold wrote a great post on his company’s blog, outlining conference tips for startups. It is written from a vendor or sponsor’s point of view and makes for interesting reading. Alex definitely recommends ETech, SXSW. He gives a firm “maybe” to TechCrunch Party, Web 2.0 Expo, Web 2.0 Summit, Defrag, Blog World, AJAXWorld. His comments about what startups should do at conferences are helpful. For example he says of the recent TechCrunch party:
“The TechCrunch party was a total blast. A great atmosphere was created by a lot of people who matter in the valley. Overall, I had good demos and good conversations. A word of caution – most people are there to socialize not to look at demos. If you decide to sponsor make sure that you are visible. We spent money on the 32Ä? monitor and have no regrets. It does not make sense to invest into sponsorship but not to invest in equipment.”
From my point of view (blogger/media), the conference I really want to attend but haven’t yet is SXSW. I also view the Web 2.0 conferences that O’Reilly/CMP holds as essential, mainly because they let me network with my peers (I only get to do that 3-4 times a year, as I live on the other side of the world). Ideally I’d like to go to the TechCrunch ones too, and Defrag, and the ones in Europe, and the ones in Asia…etc. But beggars can’t be choosers. Which Web conferences do you recommend, or want to attend?
