As you’ll have gathered from my recent posts, LeWeb – the biggest web event in Europe - took place last week. I didn’t go myself but have heard from my colleagues who did, as well as the buzz online, that it was an awesome and inspirational event, as ever. Amongst the many highlights, I’d mention Danah Boyd, a very clever cookie who works as Social Media Researcher at Microsoft Research New England (in addition to being a Fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society!) She gave a speech on habits, ethics and privacy in social media which in some tweets I’ve read has been named the best speech at this year’s event – see it in full here.
 
Another highlight was Queen Rania of Jordan, the keynote speaker, who probably caused the biggest stir with her inspirational speech on the power of the real-time web. She predicts that it’ll change the world..! See it for yourself here. On a sidenote, in case you’re wondering what Queen Rania was doing at a web event, look no further than her Twitter superstar status. She has +1 million followers… and I’d add that it’s NOT just because she’s famous but because she GETS Twitter. She uses it to get to know people; to share and engage, not just as a celeb’s megaphone.
 
If I had to pick one thing to highlight though - given my day-job in Microsoft’s Emerging Business Team, which is entirely dedicated to helping out start-ups and entrepreneurs - it’d have to be the Start-up Competition. (If you’ve got a bit of time on your hands, check out the contestants giving their pitches here and here!) The competition has become one of the main attractions at LeWeb, and had amongst the contestants this year a number of BisSpark start-ups (BizSpark being a Microsoft programme which helps early stage start-ups by providing them with software, support and visibility when they need it most.) My colleagues at the event actually filmed a few interviews with the BizSpark contestants which we’ re trying to get ready ASAP. Once ready, we’ll be posting here, so watch this space!
 
If that hasn’t quenched your appetite for LeWeb content, check out the feed on the official event bloggers’ page here, where you’ll find hundreds of posts - in every imaginable language - covering the event.