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The Early bird discount is almost over (7 days) and then the registration will open up to the public.
Last year we had a lot of requests from non-for-profit organizations who would like to partner with us in one way or the other. Most of those organization have a couple of hundred members with deep interest in the web scene (tech entrepreneurs). We didn’t have a real program for them, but they were allowed to give their members a discount on the price.
This year we like to do something extra for industry organizations. Organizations can become a ‘friend’ of The Next Web. This means that they can give a 125 EUR discount to their members and will be featured on the website. We will create some space to put the industry organization logos on the front page.
Friends can decide their selves on how to notify their members, via email or on their organization website.
This way industry organizations can easily get a discount for their members and get exposure on our site.

If you’re a member of such an organization (or if you’re on the board) and you think your organization should team up with us please sent me contact information.

When organizing a conference of this size it is always nice to hear from people how much they enjoyed the last version and how to improve this years event. In the end it is all about inspiring everybody and make sure that everybody is having a good time.
Kathy Sierra, of Creating passionate users, said at SXSW that people attend conferences because personal contact with like minded people stays important (I believe that personal contact is more important than ever). On a conference there are loads of bloggers, podcasters, twitterers and people making pictures and videos that are online available before you know it, so why would you go to a conference? She asked. Personal contact with peers is one answer, the other answers is the discussion and inspiration of the speakers (and probably another is that your competitor is their as well talking to press and having fun with bloggers, so you cannot not be there).

Some great conferences are out there: Web2.0 Summit, Web2.0 Expo, SXSW, Supernova, FOOA, TED, Where2.0, DEMO, VON, and some 20 others where the whole scene gathers to discuss, inspire and do business.
One problem though… These conferences are all in the US. What do we have in Europe?
FOWA in London, LeWeb in Paris, Reboot in Copenhagen, and The Next Web in Amsterdam (of course).
I believe these conferences are all contributing to the entrepreneurial spirit in Europe on their own way, which is not only a very good thing, but also very necessary. It is great to see people signing up from all over the world (16 countries and counting) to meet each other here in Amsterdam, to get inspired by true visionaries and to do business.

Entrepreneurs, VCs, developers, thought leaders, journalists, bloggers, tech writers, twitterers, looking forward to see you all in 10 weeks.

The Wired just posted an article about Tariq Krim, Netvibes and how Netvibes will break all rules of online advertising.

Tariq and Netvibes are included to be nominated for The Next Web Awards in the categories Web Celeb and Disruptors.

We’re happy to see Tariq becoming a true web star and that he will be a speaker at the conference.

After TechCrunch, Bright, Marketingfacts, and The Next Net we are glad to announce the newest mediapartner: Read/WriteWeb!
Read/WriteWeb is one of the most influential blogs on the intersection of Web 2.0 technologies and media. The editor, Richard MacManus is a true though leader and with almost 60k RSS readers he is very influential (but also very nice).
We’re glad to team up with Read/WriteWeb. As of April first, readers of Read/WriteWeb will get a discount for the conference.
They got great content and I especially love the International Top Web Apps series.

See for yourself, grab their feed and enjoy.

Today we made some changes to the frontpage, as there are only fifteen days left for the early bird special we added the 15 days left button.
Also we put up all attending companies (All paying companies, updated until today). So please check if your company is in the list and if the link is correct.

It this moment over 15 countries will be represented. A nice International crowd is getting together.

We are really looking forward to the conference.

A new Media Partner joined The Next Web; The Next Net!
The Next Net is the blog of Erick Schonfeld, editor at large of Business2.0 Magazine, with more than 40.000 RSS subscribers. The Next Net explores the latest ideas in business, technology, and creative capitalism. Erick also put together the highly popular The Next Net 25 list, which is a yearly list of the top 25 Web 2.0 startups, published in Business2.0 Magazine.

This weekend we contacted Sauries Duval of the Museum of Modern Betas, also known as MoMB. The MoMB is the site known for its dedication to list webbased applications on a beta trip. Almost every day new betas pop up all around the world. Saurier have seen them all!
So we’re happy to be able to tell you that he is now officially a Jury board member of The Next Web Awards.
Welcome Saurier

Rienier Evers just accompanied the Jury for The Next Web Awards.
Reinier is the founder and CEO of Trendwatching.com. Their monthly Trend Briefing is sent to 130,000+ business professionals in more than 120 countries and is a huge inspiration for thousands of people interested in innovation, the web and worldwide trends.
Reinier is an accomplished trend watcher, entrepreneur, and presenter. With Keynote speeches in London, San Francisco, Dubai, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Buenos Aires and, well… all over the place. He has an extensive feeling for trends, hypes and great startups.
We happy to have him in the Jury.

The Worldwide Web Awards for Future Accomplishments

We’re very proud to announce The Next Web Awards.

The Award ceremony will take place after The Next Web Conference on June 1st during the grand party. The Red Carpet, limos, The Next Web Award Tech Schwag Bag, industry icons, you name it…. even Ashton Kusher might show up..

The Next Web Awards is a spin-off of The Next Web Conference.
The concept for the Awards consists of two rounds: The nomination round and the voting round. During the nomination round the public can suggest their favorite service or person in one of the categories. By April 15th, the jury will have selected the nominees out of all suggestions given by the public, and as of that moment the world can vote for its favorites.

Awards can be won in the following categories:
- Entertainment (Let me entertain you!)
- Social (You and me)
- Search (Find it!)
- Disruptors (Give me your share, now!)
- Web Celeb (Who’s the (wo)man!)
- Beta & Stealth (Rookie of the year)
- Populizr (Show me the visitors)
- Company (One company, to rule them all..)

As mentioned above the Awards will honor services / companies / people based on future accomplishments. Who will be the new Steve Jobs? Which company can change the way we do business, will create the new standard, disrupt business sectors? What service or product will change the Web forever?

Why don’t you tell us! Suggest your favorite services and help them become invincible.

Oh, by the way, don’t be afraid; we will not charge companies for their nomination. It is totally free and democratic.
Entrance to the award ceremony will be limited to conference attendees due to limited space.