Internet Week New York kicks off June 6 with a menu of 200 events that chairman David-Michel Davies promises will be “incredibly diverse and all curated by the Internet community in NYC.”
Internet Week was founded in 2008 as a public/private partnership by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and the City of New York’s Office of Media and Entertainment. The first year, there were 80 events and 10,000 attendees, Davies recalls. This year’s festival, by contrast, features 200 events and an expected attendee list of 25,000.
Whether you’re a Web entrepreneur or just an Internet junkie, you’re likely to be overwhelmed by the choices of events and exhibits to attend. So Davies offers a few suggestions:
Digital Archaeology: This interactive exhibit at the Metropolitan Pavilion will resurrect some of the Web’s original sites. Visitors will be able to check out The Project, a 1991 site created by Web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee, for example, and read Word.com, an e-zine from 1995. “People will be able to see these sites on computers and widely-used browsers from that era,” Davies says. “It’s a really visual way of seeing the evolution of the Web over time.”
Webutante Ball: This party “celebrates/pokes fun at how the Internet is sort of like high school,” Davies says. The ball attracts Web celebs and personalities from all over New York, and culminates with the crowning of the Webutante King and Queen. And all proceeds this year will be donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to support research in Parkinson’s Disease.
Classroom: Web execs and budding entrepreneurs can choose from dozens of classes taught by the industry’s luminaries. Davies recommends “How to Stop Sucking at Email, Meetings, and Calls with Investors and Customers,” taught by
