Lift11 in Geneva

I am back from Lift11. This time I took part as a volunteer. I was a runner, helping out with errands, bringing things from A to B, and general troubleshooting.

I like the idea of giving back.

Again the mix of topics and people at Lift was inspiring.

All of the videos are online:
http://www.livestream.com/liftconference/folder

Some highlights:

Social CapitalBrian Solis suggested scenarios where we are/will be assessed according to our online reputation or digital credit rating. Scary.

Tiffany St. James provided a practical guide to online communities.

Hasan Elahi explained how he used his calendar, photos and full transparency to escape from the US suspected terrorist list. He has turned his digital tracks for the FBI into an awesome “Document your life” art project.

I really liked Etienne Mineur’s presentation about a book that wanted to be a video game.

Downtime at Lift11:
The wifi went down on Thursday as Lifters connected to the Internet all at the same time, with numerous devices. 2 to 3 IP addresses per person. I left the charger for my cell phone at home. My Blackberry to keep in touch with my work emails would not recharge despite having the correct charger with me. And I managed to forget my PIN number for my data sim card. And I forgot to take my digi cam.

Things I had forgotten about Geneva:
Shops close early – only open on Thursdays until 8pm.

Customer service is (still) an unknown concept in some places. At the counter of a cafe, the sales person insisted on selling the coffee pour emporter cos the coffee place was closing soon. It was 20:10 and the place was closing at 21:00.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.