Internet World, Berlin
2nd June 2001
A summary from the Internet World exhibition 2001 in Berlin.
“Welcome to Europe’s Largest Internet trade fair” states the exhibition guide and posters. Internet World Berlin and the organisers are keen to point that out that its big. They didn’t need to – most of the people wandering around its 6 exhibition halls of stands (each with two floors) would agree that it is very big indeed. Over three days 70,000 people visited 1,000 exhibitors with elaborate stands featuring waterfalls, DJs, free booze and, of course, access to the web. Visiting a conference like this it is easy to forget that the e-commerce world has lost some of its glory over the past year. The exhibitors and punters exuded confidence that the best days of the new economy lie ahead.
Internet World is a series of worldwide exhibitions, including one in Glasgow in late September. The Berlin exhibition (15–17 May) was diverse, with strong representation from content providers and managers, CRM solutions, networking software and e-commerce strategy providers. The one area that seemed under represented was web site designers and builders. Although Icon Medialab was present, there was a conspicuous absence of other corporate e-business site builders such as Razorfish, Framfab and iXL, as well as smaller counterparts. Could this be a sign of corporate belt tightening in these lean times for web site builders and start-ups? In any case, it may represent an opportunity for some of Scotland’s web designers to make an entrance to the German market.
Although a poor grasp of German prevented my eavesdropping on the sales pitches at the stands, the atmosphere was positive, and clearly a lot of business was being done. As expected, mobile phones and ponytails were very much in evidence, as well as this year’s must-have e-business accessory – the scooter. Dozens of delegates and exhibitors whizzed around the conference with an air of confident nonchalance on these.
The Conference and Web Development Forum
The Internet World exhibition ran in parallel with the Streaming Media Berlin 2001 show that provided a view of the world of convergence between the TV and PC. A brief look into that hall revealed an engaging and entertaining world with no shortage of companies eager to provide content – if only the broadband technology could catch up.
Also part of the exhibition was the Internet World Conference with speakers on topics such as broadband entertainment, online advertising, m-commerce, syndication, wireless and B2B. The Web Development Forum at which I spoke featured the Technology Evangelist for Netscape 6 pleading for the web development community to embrace W3C web standards rather than proprietary browser extensions. The great irony was that he used the IE 5.0 browser to demonstrate the Netscape / Mozilla online information base as part of his technical explanation on why Netscape 6 was the true friend of W3C.
My own presentation, on the growing requirement for web developers to have usability resources or knowledge, was well received. Although the business case for improving user experience was widely accepted, most admitted that their organisations did not fully implement appropriate actions such as user research, usability consultancy and testing.
Internet World is well worth attending, if for nothing else than to renew your enthusiasm in e-commerce and an broad insight into the companies driving the new economy. For further information on Internet World series of conferences including London (5–7 June), Manchester (14–15 November) and Glasgow (26–27 September), visit www.internetworld.com 
Related Article: Read the summary paper presented by User Vision at the Web Development Forum in Berlin.
Submit this article to: