Well run and full of interesting topics. Great meeting space.

continuity from one months speeches to the next would help advance the discussion, I think

I could not hear the first speaker AT ALL - he faded in and out...and that made the first presentation a total bust. And the topic seemed way to commercial and too "business school" Second one was interesting. Made me want to learn more about all he was talking about - a very good sign.

It was very good. The first talk was a bit high level. Freebase looks great. Could we get a detailed tutorial on using Freebase?

I was really excited to hear what you might call "outsider's insider insights" into Freebase and it was nice to talk with Tom a little bit afterwards. It's also interesting to hear that Freebase might be floundering a bit figuring out how to build community involvement; I would really like to see them succeed. Regarding the the first talk? It's time for a little tough love, guys, if you're ever planning to get working web developers involved. Somebody said the "SOA/BPM" talk was "a bit high level". That's the polite way of putting it. Another way would be: *that* was a precious hour out of my life I'm never going to get back. Gradients only a circa-1998 middle manager who just learned powerpoint could love! Lots of meaningless boxes placed randomly on even less meaningful axes! Maybe it made actual sense to corporate-IT greybeards. However I have less clue about what "SOA" actually, you know, *is* or how it might relate to the semantic web than I did when I walked in. Good Lord...

The whole session started 15 minutes late, and the first talk went way over time. The second talk also went a bit long, leaving very little time for discussion after the talks. I find that the discussion/networking following the presentations is a crucial part of this forum, and the goal should be to wrap up the talks by 7pm.