So PINT was represented at the Internet Strategy Forum in Portland, Oregon with my panel seat for various Web 2.0 pitfalls and ideas. I might throw out some discussions of the talks in a few days but for now I want to give my overall impressions since they are quite clear to me.

It appears that according to some of the speakers we need to know every message said about our organization, read hundreds of blogs a day, address thousands of emails, have thousands of myspace or facebook links, "hypertask", crave sleep over sex because we are way overworked (yes that is the essence of a quote), and twitter about the process all day long.

For other speakers we need to listen to our customers, not think we know the answers, test a lot, measure everything and roll with the punches.

If I get to say what I want Web 2.0 to be then I pick the second, but I don't think my say so matters with cheerleaders like Robert Scoble and others in the house. As counterbalances the CNet and IBM presentations were quite balanced and informative and weren't giant sales pitches like a few folks who will go unnamed but should be ashamed.

At the end who was right? Hard to tell. To some I spoke to after the show clearly thought the 2.0 kool aid was more tasty and fun to some and considered that maybe if you drink it you’ll get bought by Google or might blow up big like Facebook! Others seem to wonder what all the fuss was about and seem to think it was just about listening to and engaging customers but were open to trying things at least cautiously. Not a big enough sample since I talked to maybe 10 or 12 people at the very end out of 400 and an equal amount during the show. However, it is enough for me to conclude... we still don't know what Web 2.0 means to us, but whatever it is we're buying it!

Oh and Portland has really changed in the last few years, the downtown is getting quite hip and the beer is as tasty as ever. More great reasons to visit even beyond an engaging discussion about the future of the Web.