Magnify.net Blog
Countdown to "The Lobby"
October 24, 2007 - Steve Rosenbaum
There are very few opportunities to show up at an event and have no idea what to expect.
But for the next 3 days in Hawaii - that's what I'm looking forward to.
I've been invited to the inaugural three day conference of internet exploration called The Lobby.
The Lobby is the brainchild of David Hornick, a Venture Capitalist and Partner at the fabled August Capital. But David and I know each other through a whole bunch of mutual friends. He's been a lawyer for a number of start ups that i've know (disclosure, i was an angel investor in Ofoto - which David was council for). And now as a Venture investor, he's been one of the critical supporters and funders of Video Egg, one of the leaders in the video space an Magnify.net early upload and storage partner. So David is reason alone to trek to Hawaii.
But there's more. The guest list is over 200 invitees, and it reads like a who's who of social media and internet ventures. The gang from Digg, Automatic - creators of Word Press, MySpace, Dogster, Mozilla and Video Egg are coming. Legends like Mitch Kapor and MC hammer are on the list. And a bunch of my friends from the venture community including folks from First Round Capital, Polaris, Greylock are all planning to venture out to the big island.
But maybe the most interesting thing about the event is David's decision to use video as the social fabric of the event.
In the weeks before we were slated to gather, David asked each of us to record a video. A personal introduction - a 'hi, this is me' missive. The video - the conference itself was free form. And the only promise was that if you submitted a video, The Lobby would put them all on new iPod touch players and send the collection along.
It was a good carrot - and so participation was pretty high, about 114 videos were on my iPod when it arrived. Frankly, it seemed a bit like a club med 'get to know you' game, and I wasn't sure what i'd get out of it. Boy, was i wrong. First off all, if you have any doubt about the power and ubiquity of video publishing... this was a eye opening experience. People did an amazing job recording their videos. Some where highly produced, many were simply recorded on web cams, lots of folks toured their offices, and lots of people introduced their kids. It was incredibly personal, and very engaging. I learned a lot about people, even people i'd known before. Being able to learn about people's gig's with the embroidery of video made me feel like i knew the people i was about to go spend time with. There will be less need for getting to know you chit chat. Less need to explore connective tissue... i already know there are conversations i want to have with people. And questions I want to ask. Far from the static list of names and titles, I think David's decision to coax us all to make video intro's is a glimpse into the future. How long before events, conferences, meetings, of all sorts offer a video 'intro' service? Why not? Certainly the iPod was a lure, but i'd do it again without the carrot, now that i know how valuable the insights of those videos are.
I think that The Lobby will be an extraordinary 3 days - and I'm totally excited about meeting new friends, and getting to make new ones - in no small part because of the Video intro's that have me chomping at the bit to meet these amazing folks.
More soon - as we explore the connection between video and the web at The Lobby.
But for the next 3 days in Hawaii - that's what I'm looking forward to.
I've been invited to the inaugural three day conference of internet exploration called The Lobby.
The Lobby is the brainchild of David Hornick, a Venture Capitalist and Partner at the fabled August Capital. But David and I know each other through a whole bunch of mutual friends. He's been a lawyer for a number of start ups that i've know (disclosure, i was an angel investor in Ofoto - which David was council for). And now as a Venture investor, he's been one of the critical supporters and funders of Video Egg, one of the leaders in the video space an Magnify.net early upload and storage partner. So David is reason alone to trek to Hawaii.
But there's more. The guest list is over 200 invitees, and it reads like a who's who of social media and internet ventures. The gang from Digg, Automatic - creators of Word Press, MySpace, Dogster, Mozilla and Video Egg are coming. Legends like Mitch Kapor and MC hammer are on the list. And a bunch of my friends from the venture community including folks from First Round Capital, Polaris, Greylock are all planning to venture out to the big island.
But maybe the most interesting thing about the event is David's decision to use video as the social fabric of the event.
In the weeks before we were slated to gather, David asked each of us to record a video. A personal introduction - a 'hi, this is me' missive. The video - the conference itself was free form. And the only promise was that if you submitted a video, The Lobby would put them all on new iPod touch players and send the collection along.
It was a good carrot - and so participation was pretty high, about 114 videos were on my iPod when it arrived. Frankly, it seemed a bit like a club med 'get to know you' game, and I wasn't sure what i'd get out of it. Boy, was i wrong. First off all, if you have any doubt about the power and ubiquity of video publishing... this was a eye opening experience. People did an amazing job recording their videos. Some where highly produced, many were simply recorded on web cams, lots of folks toured their offices, and lots of people introduced their kids. It was incredibly personal, and very engaging. I learned a lot about people, even people i'd known before. Being able to learn about people's gig's with the embroidery of video made me feel like i knew the people i was about to go spend time with. There will be less need for getting to know you chit chat. Less need to explore connective tissue... i already know there are conversations i want to have with people. And questions I want to ask. Far from the static list of names and titles, I think David's decision to coax us all to make video intro's is a glimpse into the future. How long before events, conferences, meetings, of all sorts offer a video 'intro' service? Why not? Certainly the iPod was a lure, but i'd do it again without the carrot, now that i know how valuable the insights of those videos are.
I think that The Lobby will be an extraordinary 3 days - and I'm totally excited about meeting new friends, and getting to make new ones - in no small part because of the Video intro's that have me chomping at the bit to meet these amazing folks.
More soon - as we explore the connection between video and the web at The Lobby.
