Today is day one of the Future of Web Applications (FOWA) conference where many a geek has gathered to discus, well, the future of webb apps.
Some of you may have passed out with boredom by now, so if web applications make your eyes roll back into your head, feel free to click away. However, if you’re using Farmville or Google Calendar or Flickr on a regular basis, you’re using a web application. And you should therefore bow down to their makers, for they are brilliant, brilliant people.
They're also people who are very fond of ironic geek glasses, checked shirts, beards, and messy hair. But we won’t judge them too much for that. Maybe.
This morning’s conference kicked off with Kevin Rose (yes, that young Digg fellow) giving a talk on how to take your site from "one user, to one million”, giving 10 pointers on how to grow your userbase. Unfortunately, I only caught four out of ten points as the registration process here isn’t exactly fast and or easy.
What I enjoyed about Rose’s advice was that it wasn’t only relevant to web app developers, but to start-ups and entrepreanuers or anybody with idea that they want to spread like wildfire.
He advised boot strappin’ entrepreneurs to go to the after-parties of events if they can’t afford to go to the actual events themselves. He said to go to these parties armed with a list of people you want to network with, as well as a laptop or iPhone so you can demo your app or show off your website that you want to talk to the people on your list about.
Another good point he had was to set up a podcast to talk about your ideas for your company or app on. Worried that not enough people are listening? Rose says not to worry, as even “a very small fraction of Digg users listen to Digg Nation”. You don’t want a big audience for your podcast, he says, but the right audience. You want the influencers in your community to listen, so that you are ultimately using your podcast to engage with your community and fellow though leaders.
Again, this podcast could ultimately be a personal blog or a webcast – but the main point is that this is a great idea for any entrepreneur, or someone who is trying to push their ideas or products. Most of the entrepreneurs I know or even “web personalities” I know have some way of you connecting with them personally, whether it’s a Tumblr blog or a podcast.
It’s nice, and seemingly more for your colleagues and peers than your users/readers.
From a event point of view, the attendees at FOWA seem to be a bit frustrated.
Crappy WiFi and not being given your “coffee tokens” straight away can do that to a geek. We’re really simple people. We just want our money’s worth. We don’t want to wait in line for 15 minutes to get a cuppa, only to find out that because the folks at the door failed to give us our food/drink token booklet, that we will then have to wait a further 15 minutes to get some caffeine into our system.
And while I appreciate that most of the buildings that are big enough to hold a conference of 1000+ people are generally quite old or made of cement or lead and mobile reception is quite shoddy – why is it so rare for a tech conference to have reliable WiFi? Is it that hard? Maybe it is. Maybe the bloggers and people who simply would like to check their email and what’s going on on Twitter are asking too much – but surely someone should be able to hold a conference where everyone can get online.
Or maybe I’m just a dreamer.
The number of female speakers at this event is, as per usual, low.
Today we have Cat Lee talking about Facebook Connect at 2:55, and then tomorrow at 12:35 is Lynne d Johnson from Fast Company talking about the future of print. Maybe there are just loads of androgynous names or I simply need a new contact lens prescription and can't read my schedule correctly – but I think there are all of two female speakers at FOWA. Total.
Again – who should be here? Who should be speaking instead? I’m not sure. I’m not a web app expert. But there must be more women who are involved in web apps that are qualified to speak at something like this.
Or, again, maybe I’m just a dreamer.