Events Are A Growing Internet Opportunity

 I've been lucky enough to attend a large number of tech events over the past couple of years, from LeWeb in Paris and now to Future of Web Apps in London. The thing that I've noticed about these events is that they are in some ways a bridge between the online lives that we all live and our human desire to meet and interact with other people. Events are powerful. They can leave people feel invigorated and inspired, or they can make people feel as though they wasted one or two days of their lives. It's up to individual event organizers to make each event good, but one fact is inescapable: there are never enough events. We can always do with more opportunities to physically meet other people and learn things. My point is that I think there's a huge opportunity in the events space, and it's only going to get bigger as the Internet progresses. The more we use the Internet, the more removed from real life we become. And therefore, the more opportunities to physically meet people we require. If you have an idea for an event - whether it's around a specific topic or you just feel you can get better speakers than other events - then go and do it. Put in the effort yourself, because it'll pay off in the long-run. Or, find someone who can do the event for you. A great example of a technology event in New Zealand was the NetHui conference. It shows how a well-organized and run event left huge numbers of people inspired and wanting to work in the technology industry. Some people have said to me that they think it isn't worth trying to organise a tech event in New Zealand - but NetHui shows that that is incorrect. The event was fully sold out and had incredible speakers on lots of topics. I've heard rumors about the team at Social Media NZ are organizing an event. All I can say is that I really hope it happens, and I'm glad someone is looking at using this opportunity.