Last week was a whirlwind of book events across Europe - in Dublin, in Amsterdam, 2 in London and in Paris. Befitting a book on Polymaths it was diverse in many aspects.
The venues: What a choice - do you present at a room like this at the Hempel in London or would you rather move the meeting outside to an even more pleasant location like this? The Cafe de La Ville in Paris has been called one of the best bars in the world. The Library Bar is one of Dublin's best pubs. The Capgemini office was in a tech complex to the Southeast of Amsterdam - which contrasts so nicely with that old world capital. The Tuttle Club reflects the spartan, but funky, style of a start-up incubator that is the Centre for Creative Collaboration.
The audiences: In Amsterdam, it was a group of seasoned outsourcing executives. At the EuroCloud event in London, it brought together several software and cloud computing executives. In Ireland, the focus was on what all the innovations in the book meant for "the future of Irish work". At the Tuttle Club in London, the tone was more about what it means for social networks. Two of the events were on Friday evenings, and I was really appreciative people took time out of so many alternative options to come listen about the book.
The small talk: It was great to spend time with the organizers of each of the events. John Peavoy provided a nice contrast of tech startups in Cork versus other parts of Ireland. Martijn Linssen provided a perspective on how much cleaner Amsterdam has become compared to my last visit. David Terrar described his upbringing in London and the innumerable rock concerts he has been to. He really should write an encyclopedia on the "British Invasion." Bertrand Duperrin contrasted Miami, a city he enjoys visiting with the South of France. I was meeting most of these people for the first time, but there was a certain camaraderie as if we had known each other for years. In Dublin and Paris, they also warmly welcomed my wife.
The "Grand challenge": All the organizers (I need to also thank Pat Phelan, Phil Wainewright, Lloyd Davis and the folks at FinancialForce.com for their sponsorship of the events) faced a common challenge. July is vacation season in Europe. They did an admirable job organizing and publicizing the events. The audiences were smallish, so each of them apologized. No reason to. Couple of years ago, we could not have organized such a tour at all. It is a testament to the power of social networks that we could - and the viral exposure they brought to the book in the last couple of weeks has been huge.
