I've been talking about the upcoming Office 2.0 conference a fair bit lately — mostly because it very much seems to be a blueprint for how to organise an effective, collaborative and nimble conference.

A couple of advisements from the organisers caught my eye. The first was a very open and honest post about the trials and tribulations they've faced at the conference — only days before the event they lost their headline sponsor (to the tune of $75k) but, undeterred, they've seen the silver lining to the cloud and have carried on and used the setback to spur them to new levels of passion.

Secondly was the announcement that there will be a launchpad opportunity at the conference where small start-ups (less than five staff) get the chance to demo their offering in a receptive and economical forum. The launchpad gets the startup into the conference, the chance to pitch to a bunch of top-shelf VCs and the attention of a veritable who's who of the tech press scene. The organisers are also hopeful that launchpad companies will get the same HP mini-note that other participants receive — this is dependant on VC sponsorship, so get in there VCs — it's a most worthy cause!

Also posted over here.

I was stoked when I was first asked to moderate a panel at the upcoming Office 2.0 Conference. As an evangelist for all things "cloudy" this conference is right up my alley. Also, as a veteran of sole charge accounting for a number of different SMBs over the years, the panel Accounting 2.0 really aligned with where I'm at.

The panelists are an interesting bunch, split down the middle between personal finance and business finance — and therein lies the problem. Accounting is generally a business-centric term, not really valid for at least two of the panelists. Ismael then suggested another title, but some thought that was a little ho-hum and would fail to get excitement drummed up from attendees.

So here is a novel approach towards a panel discussion — crowd sourcing. I'd be really interested to hear both your thoughts on the name for the panel, and also what you'd like to hear at the session — after all we're doing it for you, the attendees.

My suggestion is "Money 2.0" but I'm happy to hear others...