Hi folks! We did a lot of things right, and a lot of things wrong for Nexus, and we want you to tell us and the rest of the world what these are. Also, to respond to various points made, feel free to leave your comments in italics below the point. :)

Quick Links: Feedback Wiki | Nexus in the blogosphere | Nexus Website

Updates:

• There were some fear that we will go into backslapping mode - no way! We know we are far from perfect, and we want to make our events as useful for you as possible. Need your feedback and ideas to make it happen!
• We expect this page to get very long, but dun worry that the feedback will be lost. We will summarize everything and publish a report to everyone! :)

Thoughts on Nexus 2007

Jseng

An excellent event and Singapore need more of it. The networking to bring like-minded people together would bring us more innovative projects and companies in future.

NatT (O'Reily)

I had a great time at Nexus. Ming Yeow and the team put on a solid event that both showcased local talent and brought in knowledge from outside. I think Singapore's in good hands while events like Nexus are so successful.

Darius (TenCube )

Speakers were stellar, event management was flawless, marketing was classy, turnout was good, audience was qualified and diverse, energy level was sustained at a very high level throughout the day. Rock on guys!

Walter Lee (IDC)

This is one of the best event that I've ever participated in! There is plenty of Excitement, Enthusiasm and Entrepreneurism from the organizers, and the audience is simply fun and Engaging. I like the format and the many new ideas, such as the podcast.... that's what a breakthrough event is all about! To the organizers, a BIG congrats! You must do it again, and this time, on an even bigger scale! JUST DO IT!

Sivam (Genometri)

The nexus2007 event was a rare event - an event in which the participants were enthusiastic and engaged. Even a seasoned conference organizer sitting next to me was very impressed as he had not seen a bottom-up event taking shape like this in Singapore.

Jeffrey (Patsnap)

This is the first local event that I attended that has this kind of atmosphere - where entrepreneurs can showcase their technologies, where industry leaders share their expertise, where investors can look for more opportunities, and where like-minded people can just mingle with each other. It will take time to build this type of community platform and environment, but I am looking forward to another "Valley" in Singapore.

TracyHo (Microsoft)

I had a great morning on March 24th. The event was well done. It features one of the most interesting way of showing the panel real time feedback via blogging. I really like the concept, as it gives immediate feedback to steer the panelist in the right direction as the audience sees fit, audience participation is the key to a good panel. I must say that given the part time nature of your team, they did a fantastic job. Kudos to all of them.

JK (ClappingTrees)

To be frank, most of the content covered was not new to me. However, thanks truly to the highly commendable efforts of the organizer, partners and sponsors, I was given this wonderful opportunity to participate in Nexus 2007 and thus meet many people from the blogosphere, the industry and ping.sg. The event is very well-organized. Congratulations!

BillC (http://www.itr8.com)

I am in awe of what this team of 4 young technopreneurs has created. TDM has hosted a series of excellent events, including the GeekOut and now Nexus. There were some rough spots along the way, but easily overlooked in the bigger scheme of things. As an event organiser myself, I am particularly impressed with the community that is building for TDM events, and the way they are able to keep costs low. The excitement at breaks and chill out sessions is very reminiscent of the Silicon Valley culture.

Bernard Leong (SG Entrepreneurs)

Great conference, and I am glad that everyone in the ecosystem has turned up. The organizers have done an awesome job in putting together the panels, the food and drinks, the GeekOut pre-event and also the atmosphere which everyone agreed, gave them "3 hours of Silicon Valley". A very successful student enterprise and all the effort put forth to organize it. Of course, we look forward to the organizers taking the challenge to take Nexus to the region and perhaps, become a regional annual conference in the next few years.

David Dan

(Founder, D Square Transformation Consulting, Former Chairman and CEO, Intel China)

1. Web 2.0 is good subject in the 1st year, suggested to cover business model innovation and what's the impact in the future beyond the technology innovation ?
2. What does it means to you in Singapore as a young professional ?
3. Regional leadership: you may like to take the leadership position and invite these young professional in the region, for example Malaysia, Thai., Indonesia....etc.
4. Thomas Wang and his team is organizing a small young professional group in China HangZhou based on what He learned from Nexus, but the quality is still far away from what you demonstrated,
These are my personal humble thoughts.

Rgds / David

What Needs Improving?

Meow (TDM)

Topics discussed were generally too high level. Need to make the discussions more focused on the region and even more relevant in the future, by ensuring that we really sit the speakers down. For example, we should have had the panelists from the first panel speak about

For live chatting, we needed a live chat moderator very badly, someone who looks at the panel discussions going on in the chat, and asks the questions to the moderators.

Technical hiccups was really bad sometimes. Wilson would have made it a much better chat if he could see what was going on.

Sivam (Genometri)

Bad choice of Speakers for the first secession – the New Asia Pacific . (it should have been the Old Asia Pacific) Understand that you need sponsors – but no need to let them speak !
Thanks for the feedback - It was our fault that Wilson Tan could not see the comments of the audience! And they were NOT our sponsors. ;)

Jeffrey

I like the idea of chatting real time during the session. But I think sometimes it distracts the audience from paying full attention to the speakers. It would be good if the organizer can moderate the chat room, and selects a few questions/comments that worth the attention of both the audience and the speakers.

Due to the venue constraint, we don't have enough power point to charge our laptop. Maybe it is very difficult to have power point everywhere, one potential solution to this is to setup a recharge station, where participants can lock and recharge their laptop there.

Peter

Add on to Jeffery's suggestion regarding real chatting during the session. I think we should have a open space for people to chat, but we do not need to project everything we chat on the big screen. Instead, people with laptop in the auditorium should be able to see live feeds on the screen and chat to individuals as well as the whole group. So people could look at their screen for what's going on the stage and chat at the same time. Selected messages would show up on the screen for whoever wants to join through their mobile device.

And in order to support that, what we need is more internet bandwidth for each one with more power supply. Besides that, we need setup allowing people without a computer to interact with their mobile phone through SMS/MMS.

We have some bloody good speakers on the stage, what we need are both of the groups (speakers and audience) to do some research before they join the conference.

Jseng

The wireless network was horrible and there isn't enough power outlets for people who did bring their laptops. The backchannel was also not responsive, not too sure if it is the software or just the network.

There should be more time in between the sessions and a longer breaks. People will spawns the speakers after the sessions so it will take time to move on to the next one. Second, the breaks is important because it allows people to gather and network. The corridors discussions can be more interesting then the panel discussions.

Should also considered having a "BoF" (Birds of Feathers) where you bring like-minded people together in a room and they chat. This was kind of attempted during the chillout but it does not really work out that way.

BenK (eok.net)

Before coming to the event, I was already telling others that this could possibly rival iX (which costs a bomb). And now after the event, I stand by my statement, but with some pointers for improvements. I already shared this with Ming Yeow and Chern Jie, but was encouraged to put it up here too.

For those who've been to industry events, the biggest throw off is when the speakers sell. I felt there was a fair bit of selling from the speakers but that's actually normal when they are the sponsors. That is a fundamental problem all event organisers struggle with. Either get many sponsors to finance the event so the entry fee is cheap but risk sales pitches or have no sponsors and charge $2,000 per entry like TED for the world's best content.

One approach I've heard of is where the event organiser tells a sponsoring speaker that he is not allowed to sell. If he does, he doesn't get to speak at the event again. Another way is to not have speakers from sponsors. Sponsors are sponsors (branding, ads, etc) and speakers are paid good money to come and deliver good content.

It is always a temptation for speakers to "sell". Removing that temptation will seriously up the standard and as I said, this event can totally beat iX.

Other than the bit of selling, the rest of the conference rawked!

Tracy Ho

A couple minor improvements needed….
1) Time management on speakers
2) Registration could have been upfront – use new technology
3) Panel should have bigger screen to see live blogging
4) More exciting new technology usage would have been great to showcase

Bjorn Lee (E27)

You have a big team of volunteers, a strong advantage in holding large events at low cost but high dedication to the cause. What would really amp up this event next year will be to bring a marquee startup, with VC funding, to come and tell us in a demo, what went right and what went wrong. Ideally a post-Series A startup from Silicon Valley with young founders and still wide-eyed with the new flush of funds but humble enough to share. Think Meebo. :) It will both inspire the young crowd and piss off/ re-energize the old crowd to re-join the entrepreneurship scene.

The dynamic of the panels can def be improved as mentioned. The future of the web panel had a great dynamic as opposed to the suits of the morning in the first panel. This does not mean there is no value for the suits to come talk shop in the morning but i really dun think Wilson, with due respect to him, is the best choice to moderate it. Do take note of known chemistry between invited speakers. Think Nat and Cory in the same panel. Or someone who dun mince his words like Jason Calacanis if you want something truly edgy.

Your succession is another issue. Your organization mgmt style can either be top down or bottom up but at the end of the day, you need leaders. Both those who lead by authority, in the classical sense or leadership by example, in the decentralized, structureless model. You know your team best. And you know yourself even better on how much central influence u have on your brainchild or extent of delegation. =)

JK (ClappingTrees)

1. Distractions: I found myself switching among three screens on my laptop most of the time while trying to pay attention to the speakers/panel on the stage. We were using Twitter.com for message sending, Campfirenow for chatting, and Nexus Live/Interactive to view Twitter messages from everyone. One possible way to reduce distraction could be better to replace Campfirenow with a shoutbox hooked onto Twitter via its API, the way Uzyn managed to hook Ping.sg shouts into pingsg_shouts on Twitter. Finally, open Tweetbar on the sidebar. Then everyone would have two less screens to distract their attention -- in other words, let everyone look at just ONE screen.
2. Getting the Right Experts/Insiders: For example, although the panel in the morning is a distinguished one, with leaders from the computer industry in Singapore/Asia, it was basically NOT a Web2.0 (or new digital movement) panel. So, I second Bjorn's suggestions above on getting startups and young founders to share their experiences. They need not be physically here in Singapore. We could do some kind of Web meeting with them in the USA (or elsewhere) and us in Singapore.

>> I understand that they were not exactly in sync. It was our fault more than anything else for not setting the expectations in the right way possible for them. As for the startup idea, This year time and resources were really tight, and we had zero credibility to do some interesting stuff. ;) Keep them coming in, and we will act on them for 2008!! - M

Bernard Leong (SG Entrepreneurs)

Need to get a place with fantastic bandwidth access. Of course, one interesting idea is have clinics for the different communities to hook up and discuss new technologies in the web, for example, a 2nd Life veteran (in Singapore) can give how to get involved in Singapore for 20 minutes or blogger talking about how to make useful content.

What Went Well?

Sivam (Genometri)

As a speaker, I found the audience engaging – even over engaging, disrupting my presentation with a barrage of questions. This was a welcome change to many lectures I have attended with passive audiences, and planted questions to break the silence of the typical question and answer secessions. Nexus2007 was a real event!

Great Teamwork by the volunteer organizers well chosen speakers Andreas Weigend and Nathan Torkington - both very very cool, unassuming and very knowledgeable.

Jseng

The organization is excellent. You have a wonderful team who volunteers that hold it together. Very impressive considered this is the first time the team did this and certainly prepared to do an even bigger event. The 5min of fame for the local companies are also great.

JK (ClappingTrees)

1. Good leadership
2. Great teamwork
3. Lively and engaging MC
4. Very low attendance fee
5. Excellent location and good food
6. Informative and useful for newbies -- I've spoken to a few, they are learning.
7. Good representation from all sectors: industry, government/stat board, young entrepreneurs, etc.
8. Over 600 participants: this is a feat!
9. Rinaz's realistic and touching sharing on her experiences on Second Life.
10. Nat's presentation was great! I'm particularly intrigued by the idea of Continuous Partial Attention. Not that it's new, but it's a new challenge for this Digital age. Finally, I can name it.

Bernard Leong (SG Entrepreneurs)

Great work in getting Nat and Andreas down for the event, and definitely the content to get people talking about this. It has definitely gotten the whole blogosphere talking about this event.

Ideas for Nexus 2008:

Tracy Ho

Next year I would really like to see the theme: New Technology living in the New Mindset…………..rather than this year's theme which is more New Technology in the old mindset to harvest profit rather than New Technology in the New Mindset to see how technology can create the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I know this is harder but precisely what you young people can dream off and do well.

Darius

Have a session in 2008 to look back on what we talked about in 2007 - let's see what has changed, what predictions were right, how has trends moved.

JK (ClappingTrees)

• Have an Asian focus: Invite prominent bloggers (or social media activists) from the region, e.g. Malaysia, China, Thailand, Korea.
• More local leaders in Web 2.0 (or 3.0, etc.): Personally, especially earlier, I have learnt a lot from people like Maish Nichani (Elearningpost.com) and Preetam Rai (Ngee Ann Polytechnic). So, would be great to have them present at Nexus 2008.
• Have separate tracks for newbies and those already familiar with the latest: Then we won't confuse the newbies or bore the oldies.
• Have a free-for-all session: Anyone with a poster, a PC notebook, a small table and 'tags' can present how s/he uses social media in business/education. Audience free to move around or stick with particular presenters.
• Hold pros-and-cons (or debate) sessions: The last conference perhaps present too rosy a picture about social media (or whatever new digital movements). Useful to inform people (newbies especially) of the addictive, distracting effect of social media and give tips on how to be enabled and not enslaved by technology.
• Give pre-conference workshop options: Let participants choose from an array of workshops. This would be especially useful for helping newbies get up to speed with the understanding of oldies.

Walter Lee (IDC)

Do it Bigger, Better, and Bolder!
Bigger - hold it at Suntec City main hall, yes, go for the BIG win! Invite participants too from around the region, they will come -> make it Regional, and even better still, Global. Think BIG.
Better - have more new gadgets and new media deployed - get it from sponsors:- podcasts, blogging, mobile/wireless, stream MP3, webcasting
- open up the horizon on the topics; create ZONEs of interest:
a. Web 2.0 (or should it be Web 3.0)?
b. Going Nuts on Mobile?
c. When Gaming is Real Business? etc
Bolder - allow for debates, have even more audience participation -> use zoom mics to zoom in on the participant rather
than having them walk to the aisle
- have a networking Party in the evening; with music streaming/video streaming; the FUN element needs to get Bolder too!

Estee Teo (9eek9oddess)

Points to note for Nexus2008: I don't mean to be sexist or anything (pardon me if I come across that way). I've been lamenting about the representation (or lack thereof) from the Pinker sex, a.k.a females. We need more females to stand out, and stand out proud. Maybe one reason why we don't is because we lack the support group. Sometimes, frowned upon when people know you play video games. I have been commented on before by fellow girlfriends," you mean you used to DOTA? so waste time! So boring!" Firstly, I beg to differ. I do know some girl players who are better than guys!

But seriously, maybe can have a small session for all females only, for us to get to know each other and form a community (that is not male dominated). I would love to meet other female bloggers, gamers, geeks, or just people who are interested in having a good time, through new media. Discussions about how we can better integrate ourselves and keep us better in sync and in touch with what we can offer. Don't need a massive community, just a small self sustaining ecosystem. Need to get the wheels cranking on it. I know I have girlfriends who will be delighted to help make this happen...

JK (ClappingTrees)

I second (very strongly) what Estee has suggested here. In the US, there is even a conference called BlogHer where female bloggers (and their male friends) gather to bond and to share news, perspectives and insights.