MW2009 Backchannel Stars - pictured

Just before the closing MW2009 plenary on Saturday April 18 we rewarded the efforts of some really busy people. Not only had these guys and gals been busy attending and running workshops, sessions, crit rooms and more, they also found time to take pics, send Tweets and write blog posts about #mw2009. There was also the small matter of evening socialising going on too...

It's been one of the most convivial conferences for a while and it seems plain that this is in large part because, in a planned move, we've been nurturing what some call the 'backchannel'. These days, the best conferences are not just about sitting and listening to good speakers. It's clearly vital for all concerned that views come from the other side of the platform, questions are asked, additional points made, links embedded in our minds, and our websites. 

I think there's a new heirarchy of participation in conferences (to paraphrase ninaksimon) and it's about all of us making contributions in responsive and positive ways if we want to. At Museums and the Web, influential speakers bring in best practice and innovative ideas from around the world; but it's the reflective, reactive response from MW attendees that convert authority and wisdom into peer-reviewed, digested, distilled learning we can take back to our museums for practical application. 

So let's use the wisdom of the crowd and get some name tags put on this pic [above] so we know who was a winner on the day. Why not go to Flickr and do some Steve-style tagging for us?Go to the Flickr homepage and search for MW2009, then find the pic to tag in the group.

And finally: my apologies to Rhiannon Looseley who had to run for her plane; she missed out on picking up her award for blogging about MW2009. I'm apologising because I omitted her name when reading out the awards. Doh!

Check out Rhiannon's blog post about MW209 here  

P.S. Thanks so much to our friends at gelaskins for their gift of the laptop skins given as prizes