In this last collection of soundbites – which was supposed to be posting automatically while the train was heading for France – you have shorter snippets of people who want to meet other people to connect. This sounds way simpler than it is mean, because every single one I know comes to Leweb for exactly this: meeting others, conversations and more.

And to check if the food, coffee and wifi this year hold up. ;) I already got some requests about doing an after Leweb Podcast: convince me while I am there, that there is more to be shared about Europe and I’ll be happy to do so. Looking forward talking to you in Paris!

The soundbites in the file:

• Betsy Weber(Twitter Web)from the States, wants to meet screencasters and hit the christmas markets
• Ana Pires(Twitter Web)is from Portugal and is looking for people to collaborate with
• Dean Whitbread(Twitter Web Web)is from the UK and wants to show that not all British are Euroskeptical. He is looking forward to show some fashion ;) and also meet with innovative and creative minds of stuff which has not been done yet
• Chris Pirillo(Twitter Web)another one from the States, also with the christmas shopping ;)
• Anna Friedrich(Twitter Web)is from Germany and is scouting speakers for next10 next may
• Michael Moore-Jones(Twitter Web)is a 15 year old who wants to do reporting for the folks back home in NZ or as he puts it: given that he currently is in Europe he would be a complete idiot not to attend.

  Lili Rodichttp://www.ador.hr/lilirodichttp://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/421974022/lili_bigger.jpg

• Lili Rodic(Twitter Web)
  Not in the sounbites but she left a comment. Lili is also the one you want to talk to because “looking for EU partners; web development; nearshoring to Croatia”
  why? nice people, great atmosphere :)
  who? I will meet dear people from all over EU and comment real time web in real life with them!
  what? I wish to meet new clients and/or partners for http://www.ador.hr and http://www.crowd.com.hr and show them some croatian nice web applications.

Download MP3 (8:10 min, 5 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

Probably the one furthest away is John Lai, though he will not be travelling himself, but a fellow SMNZ writer I will include in the last posting of this series. :) We talk about how it is in NZ, why despite the english language they are behind – and that there is more to NZ than being Hobbitland. ;)

More information about him: Twitter: @smnz

Blog: Social Media New Zealand

Download MP3 (19 min, 18 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

Nikos Anagnostou is one of those people I just met at previous Leweb and we have kept in touch since. He tells us a bit about Greece startup scene, and how the Open Coffee Club and Girl Geek Dinner are really successful. More information about him: Twitter: @nikan Blog: http://webtropic.cc and his company is http://scicada.com.

Download MP3 (16 min, 15 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

Ewan Spence is coming to Leweb for an argument, to bring shiny toys and explain why Leweb is more comparable to Dallas then to Dynastie. ;)

Download MP3 (15 min, 14 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

My first interview was with Renee Blodgett from the Travelling Geeks. Their mission? Visit Leweb and the French and write about them! :)

• About Traveling Geeks – http://travelinggeeks.com/about/
• Facebook Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Traveling-Geeks/113672560492
• Twitter: @travelinggeeks
• The Geeks – http://travelinggeeks.com/geeks/
• Sponsors & Partners: http://travelinggeeks.com/sponsors/

Download MP3 (13 min, 13 MB)

Traveling Geeks is heading to Paris to participate in a series of meet-ups, briefings, demos and activities in and around LeWeb, the renown web and Internet conference in Europe. The new site is live, and there’s now a Facebook fan page, so please sign up and follow along for an interesting ride over the next few weeks and beyond. The France team includes: Eliane Fiolet, Tom Foremski, Robin Wauters, Kim-Mai Cutler, David Spark, Frederic Lardinois, Matt Buckland, Sky Schuyler, Jerome Tranie, Ewan Spence, Olivier Ezratty, Cyrille de Lasteyrie, Renee Blodgett, Amanda Coolong, Beth Blecherman, and Phil Jeudy. Our goal is to collaborate with innovators and influencers, and then share that knowledge and insight to a collective global audience through blogging, video, social media tools, traditional media and meet-ups.

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

I asked the attendees of Leweb why they are coming to Paris and got some quite interesting responses.  This posting serves as the overview of all availble or coming episodes.

1. Intro and why I myself am attending Leweb
2. Travelling Geeks  – Renee Blodgett
3. Social Media Club House – Chris Heuer
4. Ewan Spence on why Leweb is more like Dallas
5. Nikos Anagnostou from Greece
6. John Lai from SMNZ – down under
7. and a collection of shorter soundbites

I also published a guest post on the Leweb Blog titled
“Europeans Are International – Meet Them at LeWeb” . As you cannot leave them here, I encourage you to do that here ;)

For the first audio file I talk a bit about the reasons behind the mini series and how it came about.

Download MP3 (13 min, 13 MB)

Go and have a look at the other files from the Leweb09 edition!

Leweb in Paris is one week away, and it’s about time to start the pre conference podcast again. In the past, I have interviewed speakers but found that people are much more interested in who else is coming and what they want to achieve when being in Paris. So this year I ask:

• Why are you coming to Leweb?
• Who do you want to meet?
• What would you like to present / showcase / tell others about?
  

What is your personal reason for attending? Is it to meet ‘the americans’ as some might call it or because you want to catch up with your fellow Europeans? Are you there as a startup who wants to connect with bloggers / VC or do you want to find new customers? What ever it is, I want to hear from you.

Send me your audio or text comment and I will include it in the podcast. It even can be a bit commercial (but not too much, it should still be valuable to listen to!) See at the end for more instructions.
To give you an example, mine would be something like this:

Hi, my name is Nicole Simon from Germany and I am coming to Leweb to meet other Europeans and exchange thoughts about how to bring Europe more together, how to foster those relationships, like for example meeting the Organizers of the Girl Geek Dinners from Greece and Brussel, Despina Bakirtzi and Clo Williarts.

Also I’d like to know more about local events with a european relevance. For Germany for example, you should learn about Next10 which happens next year May in Hamburg.

I want to find more podcasters to submit for the European Podcast Award and finally want to find out if this year we will have milk for our coffee – or if I need to go shopping again!

The guys at the Social Media Club House for example want to create a physical place to meet:

Social Media Club House Le Web edition is a home for bloggers in Paris before, during and after Le Web during the week of 7-12 December 2009. It is a place to create media, to sleep and to share the camaraderie of distant friends. In the Club House in Paris is Cathy Brooks, Dana Oshiro, Robert Scoble, Stephanie Booth, Kristie Wells and me, Chris Heuer. While the lease necessitates that we do not host any open parties, we are going to be inviting guests in for interviews and breaking bread with some leading web thinkers from around the world.

The travelling geeks on the other hand go out in the field and want to meet startups and locals:

Traveling Geeks is heading to Paris to participate in a series of meet-ups, briefings, demos and activities in and around LeWeb, the renown web and Internet conference in Europe.

The new site is live, and there’s now a Facebook fan page, so please sign up and follow along for an interesting ride over the next few weeks and beyond.

The France team includes: Eliane Fiolet, Tom Foremski, Robin Wauters, Kim-Mai Cutler, David Spark, Frederic Lardinois, Matt Buckland, Sky Schuyler, Jerome Tranie, Ewan Spence, Olivier Ezratty, Cyrille de Lasteyrie, Renee Blodgett, Amanda Coolong, Beth Blecherman, and Phil Jeudy.

Our goal is to collaborate with innovators and
influencers, and then share that knowledge and insight to a collective
global audience through blogging, video, social media tools,
traditional media and meet-ups.

This is how you can participate:

• leave a comment here or tweet with the words why leweb
• send me your audio file to
  
• leave a voicemail via Skype
  

Looking forward hearing from you!

Disclosure: As one of the official bloggers I am receiving a free ticket for Leweb.