Peering over the Web Horizon

Amsterdam’s membership of the exclusive club of European creative cities is reinforced this week when the 4^th annual edition of The Next Web Conference takes place.

Future of the Web

For three days in April Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek becomes the watering hole of Internet gurus as The Next Web Conference seeks to fathom the future of the electronic medium, whether accessed by PC or mobile phone.

Where’s the Net heading? It is the modern equivalent of the Age of Exploration’s question ‘What’s over the horizon?’ Riches and fame await those who get the answer right.

Web Movers & Shakers

Suggestions will come from a great collection of international speakers, each of them movers and shakers in the Web world, including:

•  Jeff Jarvis, director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York's new Graduate School of Journalism and author of the highly anticipated new book What Would Google Do?;

• VP of Product Management at Google. Bradley Horowitz and Ricardo Baeza-Yates from Yahoo! Research Labs;

• Serial Net entrepreneurs such as Matt Mullenweg, and for some welcome balance, Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur, an attack on the culture of the Web.

It is the fourth edition of this prestigious annual international conference, and with Picnic, held each September, it is Amsterdam’s most important get-together for the creative industries.

Europe’s Club of Three

With the cancellation of Berlin’s Web 2.0 this year, that just leaves Amsterdam, Paris and London with established events dedicated to exploring the future of the Net.

More than 900 Internet professionals will gather to enjoy the conference, mingle with speakers, find new partners, meet old friends, do business – and enjoy the whole city.

For the first time this year, networking parties will be spread among locations such as the Balie, Odeon, Hotel V and the stylish Canal Belt office complex, Spaces.

The Next Web Conference

15-17 April, Westergasfabriek

Price: € 750,- (includes access to all keynotes and presentations, food and drinks, and parties).

More information: www.2009.thenextweb.com