I was lucky enough to be the curator and host of “LeWeb Social Business Track” during the last two years. It started in Paris in 2011, then London and Paris in 2012 where a total of around 60 speakers joined us for this specific program.
I was lucky enough to be the curator and host of “LeWeb Social Business Track” during the last two years. It started in Paris in 2011, then London and Paris in 2012 where a total of around 60 speakers joined us for this specific program.
This track is all about the companies (consumer brands, B2B, non profit etc.), digital agencies, solution providers and social media experts who have shared the best strategies, practices and examples that have propelled them to success.
What’s very interesting is that this content is very low time-sensitive, and as everything that happens at LeWeb is recorded, streamed live and then published on Youtube.com/LeWeb, I recommend to anyone to have a look at it, and learn from it. In this recap, I’ll share companies’ names only, but each time executives and doers are speaking on behalf of the brand or company.
Brands
Solution Providers
Agencies & Consulting Firms
To know more about these sessions:
This is a recap of worth-sharing personal news or activities happened during previous months.
Cookening
Things I wrote:
Other Activities
And on a personal note, I’m now a happy married man ;)
It’s a tradition since I’m blogging. Every year in august, I’m waiting for the new edition of the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, edited by Gartner. Here is the 2012 one that has just been published.
After all these years looking at it, I’ve come to the conclusion that we do not have to see this cycle as granted, but more as something that gives us some perspective, that validates some trends etc. Very often, it’ll be true, by showing the current state of a technology and the time it will need to reach maturity, but sometimes, this time is really bad evaluated, because markets change unexpectedly. I really invite you to compare the different editions (see below for links).
A few interesting things for this year’s cycle:
And if you want to compare it with previous editions:
This year edition found via Syscon
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There’s a lot of mediocrity being celebrated, and a lot of wonderful stuff being ignored or discouraged
Sean Penn
It can sound arrogant or pretentious to say so, but I really think we need to encourage people to fight mediocrity! It’s perhaps one of the most dangerous poisons of our current lives. But what is mediocrity? Mediocrity is this status between bad and good, when something is not suffisant, not qualitative. The problem of mediocrity is not only its intrinsic definition, but also, and perhaps more important, is the fact that people are satisfied with mediocrity. Fighting mediocrity is fighting its production, and also its celebration.
Mediocrity is everywhere in the tech world for example:
In my post about me turning entrepreneur, I wrote something that people remembered “My project will be huge. Actually, it’s either it’s huge, or it isn’t”. I’ve thought a lot about it since I’ve started the project and met plenty of people. What I really think is that not only am I trying to build an ambitious project, not only do I want to change things, but I’m also trying to fight mediocrity as much as I can. I don’t want to take the easy way, I don’t want shortcuts that lead me to bad quality.
And as in Sean Penn’s quote that I used to start this post, not only do we need to fight mediocrity in what we’re doing, but we also need to fight mediocrity celebration!
Oh, and I need your help. If you ever think something I say, write or produce is mediocre, please tell me. Honestly.
[video]
Let’s pretend I’m eating a really delicious meal (that I prepared by myself or not, whatever) and I want to share a picture from my mobile.
Homemade Cassoulet
How can I decide on which social media I’ll post my pic?
Ok, I think you got the idea, and actually I could keep this list going. Of course Facebook and Twitter can generally be updated directly from the other apps (but this still isn’t the case for Google+) but there’s still a choice to make:
I’m convinced there’s an opportunity for niche communities such as the ones around food, but it’s more and more difficult to have user mindshare…
As I explained in a previous post, I am more and more interested in new trends regarding food consumption and tools that aim at increasing the sharing experience when we eat, cook or buy food. I’m testing a lot of new (or less) new apps so please share if you have any that I should check or test.
[video]
In case my title was not clear enough: yes, I am now an entrepreneur, working on my own project (I won’t call it a start-up before it actually starts).
Before giving you more details about this new project, a few comments about what happened to me to be that crazy. Really, you want to create your company when everyone tells you 2012 will be bad for the economy worldwide ? Oh yes, I want it!
I joined Seesmic a little bit less than a year ago, and it has been a real pleasure to work with the Seesmic team, especially Loic with whom everything started and with Michelle, that joined me last July to run Seesmic European activities. It was amazing to work with and learn from them.
But, there was a major problem. I’ve been surrounded by inspiring entrepreneurs for the last 5 years now, and I couldn’t resist further. I had to start my own project. I’ve learned a lot when I joined Goojet before the company was even created, and I spent 4 years busy with marketing but also various startup activities, as I was surrounded by 3 great entrepreneurs Marc Rougier, Ludovic Le Moan and Guillaume Decugis. I am grateful I’ve participated in Goojet pivot into Scoop.it, platform which is performing very well since its launch. Being Techcrunch France co-editor during one year and a half with Roxanne Varza was also a wonderful opportunity to meet and get inspired by great entrepreneurs. The best part of it for me were the two events I went to organize, Remix and Recipes.
Last year at Seesmic was very intense, full of diverse projects (social platforms and mobile apps, partnership with Salesforce, events such as SMMD or Dreamforce etc.) and was actually richer than expected, as my activities weren’t limited to Europe but concerned global marketing and biz dev needs.
Oh, and LeWeb of course. This was an amazing event. This was my 6th LeWeb and I had already took part to the organization of some events, but this was huge. I was lucky to be the curator and host of the new “Social Enterprise Track” as well as a member of the organization. And I should be part of the organization again next year.
Two weeks ago, I turned 28. And as 2012 is supposed to be the last year of our planet earth, I had to do something. First I proposed a few months ago (she said yes) so that’s the big 2012 project on the personal side and second, well, I decided it’s a good time to work on my own project and start my own business. And the good thing is that I have a few ideas, and one could actually be pretty huge! I am especially excited by two things: the “share economy” or “collaborative consumption” trend as well as the food industry so ping me if you want to talk about it.
I want to spend time brainstorming and working on these ideas, as well as giving me a chance to find one or two partners. So if you think there might be a fit and I haven’t send you an email yet, get in touch!
Mhh. One more thing. My project will be huge. Actually, it’s either it’s huge, or it isn’t ;)
I know I’ve not been writing very actively for this blog, but I promise next posts won’t be only about me starting or quitting jobs ;)
It’s perhaps the only “tradition” I’ve ever had in my blogging habits since 2005. Each year in August, Gartner releases its Hype Cycle and I am always keen to share it.
The 2011 edition of this Hype Cycle for Emerging Trends has been released, based on 1900 technologies that have been studied. It’s a full study you can buy from Gartner, but the cycle is always available as a graphic, and here it is.
Previous editions of this hype cycle can be found here (2010) or here (2005-2009).
What do you think of this year trends? In comparison to last year? I will post my thoughts later on but please tell me what you think.