So I can’t say that this award list is in any way fair as I didn’t attend every single party on the Web 2.0 South Park Crawl (I’d not be writing this now had I tried), but for what it’s worth, here is a list of awards based on all the parties I did attend, or at least attempted to. If you didn’t make the list, please don’t be sad. You were just too darn far away (and by far I mean not within stumbling distance).

Most Sober and Smelliest Food – Zoom Prospector

Smart idea, great timing, and great bubbly at the bar, but did you have to have shrimp AND salmon at the party? It smelled like lunchtime at Seaworld in there, and everyone was way too dressed up for a Web 2.0 party. The preso was interesting too, but I felt corralled into watching it by their sales team. I had to leave early because I wasn’t digging the sheer corporateness of it all, but that may have had something to do with the fact that Gavin Newsom was supposed to show up but didn’t (oh snap!). Kudos for starting an hour before anyone else and for having good champers at the bar.

Most unpleasant bouncers – Yahoo! Brickhouse

I was really bummed that security was so tight here, but did they have to be so snooty about it? I mean really, it’s not like I was trying to get into Bungalow 8 here. After getting rebuffed by the blonde hair, pointy shoed PR lady “Umm…. Conference passes only…thanks.” I was referred to the security guard who couldn’t even focus for a second. I literally had to explain to him four times that I RSVP’d on the Upcoming.org list before he was actually able to check the list – only to see that I wasn’t on it.

Best Low Key Party – LeverageSoftware

After getting rebuffed by the Yahoo! people I picked up my ego, brushed it off, and waltzed right into the one of the cooler parties of the night. I had no idea what LeverageSoftware did but apparently nobody cared if I did or didn’t! In fact, I wasn’t even subjected once to a pitch or presentation of any kind. Beer and Redbull sat in tubs of ice and huge bottles of Absolut and Makers Mark were available for a do-it-yourself cocktails bar. Food was everywhere I turned and there were even free tshirts (I love a good tradeshow T). Music was good, and when I left people were playing a Guitar Hero Three duet!

Nicest bouncers – Federated Media & Wired Magazine

I wasn’t able to get into either party but at least my attempt to enter was met with a polite excuse and embarrassed smile: “Sorry, but right now we’re so full we’re only letting conference attendees with blue passes in. Sorry!”

Best Networking – VCTini

For a networking party, the Andrea Schwartz Gallery can’t be beat. It was spacious, well lit and although crowded at times, not overwhelmingly so. There were servers walking through the crowd offering tasteful, bite-sized appetizers (which makes a huge difference in the atmosphere, I think), and the apple martinis were free flowing, albeit a tad sweet for my tastes. Network connected iMacs were stationed around the party for informal and impromptu demonstrations. I met the most people here, including a high school friend of mine who was pitching his startup, Orange Door, Inc., a SAS tax software company aimed at disrupting Intuit’s Turbo Tax.

Best Ride – Schwaggin’ Waggon!

Pete Cashmore is a branding genius. When I left Web 2.0 earlier in the afternoon I saw his sponsored Schwaggin’ Waggon cronies collecting all the Web 2.0 Schwag to donate to charities. Great idea, right, but honestly what are orphans going to do with conference mints? Anyway, I digress. I called out to Pete as he was leaving the conference, “Hey Pete, where’s the party at tonight?” and he gave me his card saying, “It’s at Mighty. RSVP only but give me a text when you arrive and I’ll let you in”

Then later that night, as I was leaving the VCTini party wondering where the heck I’d go to catch a cab, I spied the Schwaggin’ Waggon across the street. It was actually the glowing lanterns and Christmas lights in the cabin that first got my attention, but as soon as I realized what it was I nearly cried with joy as I knew it had to be going where I was — to the Mashable party. I quickly climbed in to find that it was PACKED with drunken conference party people, but nobody cared because it was a party van! The entire ride there, everyone was taking pictures with their mobile phones and talking loudly over the blaring music. It was such a smart idea to collect all the drunken South Park people and steal them away in a fun, albeit crowded party van. Brilliant.

Best Party and Most Drunk – Mashable/Chimp Party @ Mighty

So last party of the night for me, and what a scene! We all spilled out of the Schwagvan, and into the club. There was virtually no security by the time I arrived (they checked my ID but not my conference pass) and the music was bumping. Everyone was there, and everyone was drunk from all the parties they had attended earlier in the night. I met some MBA students who exchanged name tags with me, and even managed to meet a new twitter friend. The music was good and lots of people were dancing on the huge dance floor. This party was my favorite because everyone was truly there just to party. It was too dark and too loud to network anyway! Pete even hired a photographer to take photos of him and his buds, and I managed to snap one with him on the way out (care to share, Pete?).

Overall, I had a blast, met a ton of new contacts and highly recommend going to the Web 2.0 conference parties in the future.

Best,
Jeff

Note: Jeff is available to review YOUR tech party, too! Email him an invitation at Jeff [at] sparkpr [dot] com.

There lots of talk in the blogosphere this week about the Web Mission trip and whether or not it’s basically a confession by UK companies that they “need” the Valley to be successful. Web Mission is a group of 20 UK startups who were brought together by Oli Barrett to take a trip to the bay area with the goal of networking and learning, timed with the Web 2.0 Expo. The critics, with Ryan Carson taking the lead in this post, are saying that the companies should have stayed put because everything they need to build a business can be found in Europe. Mike Butcher from TechCrunch UK posted a response, with which I’m more inclined to agree.

Having been in London for almost a year, I’ve met with a huge number of companies, entrepreneurs, investors, and others in the tech scene here. It seems that the most serious startups know that they can build a big business in Europe (with Skype, MySQL and Last.fm as great examples), but that they also can’t ignore Silicon Valley as an important and influential part of the tech world. To do so just to prove a point would be foolish. When you encourage open communication, instead of criticizing it, you get a very positive exchange of ideas, which benefits people on both sides of the ocean. At the end of the day, London is not Silicon Valley and it never will be. Nor should it try to be. The European tech world has its own unique advantages and should focus on playing up those, rather than worry about whether it looks like they’re too in love with the Valley. Sarah Lacy’s been writing about this topic a lot lately. She has a good post on her blog, and a great column on BusinessWeek.com.

At the end of the day, people have to decide for themselves what makes the most sense for the success of their business. For some, that may be a trip to the Valley. For others, it may mean spending those hours on a recruiting trip through Europe. Knowing many of the CEOs involved in Web Mission, I think they are smart and savvy enough to figure out what’s best for their companies. And they’re too busy focusing on customers, sales, employees, and products to care about what their actions may or may not signify to an outside observer.

-Rachel

Spark is excited to announce that one of its newest clients, Internet start-up Webook, is up and running after its April 9 launch. The company could be described as a hybrid of American Idol, Random House and Wikipedia; it is designed to give traditional book publishing a run for its money by offering writers a chance to collaborate on book writing, editing and reviewing.

WEbook and Spark had a strong opening day, with favorable stories in over a dozen outlets, including BusinessWeek, Publishers Weekly and even Web Worker Daily; who says they’re excited to join and start writing.

The Washington Post had only great things to say about the start-up and even Dan Lyons at Forbes has an eye on the site, saying that WEbook “offers a glimpse at how the Internet could change not only the way books are distributed but also the way they are written.”

So dust off that old novel of yours, or get out there and start a new one, WEbook looks to be the next big thing!

-Katie