Delayed flights and thick fog meant a very late arrival home last night and a very addled brain so here are some, not always coherent thoughts, on the second day.
The start of Day 2 was considerably quieter than the first day which undoubtedly had something to do with the official party the night before (I was very boring sensible, opted out and ended up having a lovely dinner with some fantastic people including @vero and @bash). Jeremiah Owyang's talk was much anticipated but a bit of a let down. Although he's undoubtedly insightful, articulate and extremely knowledgeable, it did feel a bit like he was preaching to the converted with talk of 'listening' and recruiting brand advocates to help amplify your cause.
The Legend that is Yossi Vardi popped up like a malevolent genie, with a seemingly unending collection of funny photos and videos scraped from YouTube. As Paul Carr pointed out,"It's like my grandfather has just discovered the Internet."
But whatever you thought of his talk, there's no doubt he was a breath of fresh air in the face of all the earnest talk of how real-time is changing the face of search/the internet/world/universe. I inadvertently stumbled across him and managed to grab a quick audioboo. And yes it was a slightly bizarre question to ask, don't blame me, I was star-struck, it was all the idea of Mark Rock.Then the arena become thick with anticipation (and security guards) at the arrival of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah. She received a rapturous welcome and went out to deliver a surprisingly intrancing speech. I have to say I was sceptical beforehand but there's no doubt she's intelligent, perceptive and using her incredible power to do some fantastic charity work.
Into the afternoon Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Steve Rubel and others discussed how brands can adapt to real-time WOM. It was a genuinely interesting discussion, not least because, let's face it, these are the heavyweights of the social meeja world (that's naff but you get my point). There was a heated debate about the old chesnut how to demonstrate ROI, with some of the panel members suggesting that we shouldn't try, CEOs need to understand that it's not about trying to measure against old metrics etc at which point Brian Solis came out with the quote of the day: "This panel may resonate here but we all have to report to people who don't give a shit". Quite!
There were more tech gazilionares in the afternoon including Fabrice Grinda (just what was the combined wealth of all the speakers.....) who was refreshingly honest about how great it was to wake up and realise you are worth $40m. And of course the AWESOME Gary Vee.
It's the first time I went to LeWeb but I truly hope it won't be the last. Well-organised, fun, inspirational and exciting. I'll leave the last words to @loic and @geraldine
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