Simon Wardley

I've seen the bulk of this presentation three times now. It is just as entertaining and enlightening each time. Simon has also extended it with some new ideas which are as thought-provoking as the rest of it.

Good to step out of the coding/systems box for a while to get a broader perspective. Well-presented.

Simon's presentation was top notch. He could have made a more sexy title for it because the implications of his talk are wide-ranging and the details he shared with us are exceptionally relevant. Whereas most of the conference dealt with minutiae and "hot schtuff" of the "let's get rich"-kind, this was the real thing. I've watched it again at his blog to delve deeper into the material and take notes.

From a presentation technique point of view, Simon's was the best at the conference. Neither Don Tapscott, Kathy Sierra or Jesse James Garrett came close to matching his work. Yes, they were great but he was great, thorough and thoroughly annotated.

As I have mentioned in other places at this site, there is a need for thought leadership that extends past the newest combination of technology and design. Much of the talk about web 2.0 is reminiscent of the fable of Five Blind Men and the Elephant, where each of describes a separate part but no one sees the whole. I'm pretty sure that Simon has a better vantage point than I do, but at least I know that I should stop trying to explain what web 2.0 is and instead look at the deep changes taking part in our society and how they are reflected in different venues and arenas, including the web.

I was really impressed by the thoroughness and rigor of Simon's work and hope the see more presenters with a boatload of facts and well-detailed hypotheses at next year's conference.

Simply splendid.