OK, I did not sit on this NYSIA panel but I did ask a wrap up question at the end (did it get answered? – jury still out as I think they tried). I did get 2 of 4 panelists to admit that all this Web 2.0 stuff was marketing hype including Bob Wyman, founder of PubSub.com and Fred Wilson, of Union Square Ventures. The guys from Del.icio.us (Josh Schachter) and Dodgeball.com (Dennis Crowley) were just bought by Yahoo and Google respectively, so I understand their reluctance to totally crash the bandwagon – although they did buy into the idea of the web as far more of a progression than a specific movement tied to a moniker.
I did get a kick out of Josh, lauding the interactivity of his Citi Online banking application having nearly as high a degree of anything he has used in the “Web 2.0” arena. I guess if I sold my company to Yahoo, I’d be playing around with my balance again, again, again… (I know it was not that much money, but still it was some)
Overall, Howard Greenstein of NYU did get to my question, and therefore receives extra credit as a great moderator in my book. He’s even giving it a look through for me that is much appreciated. Other interesting contacts were David Teten, co-author of The Virtual Handshake, along with Scott Allen.