I just returned from Loïc Le Meur’s Le Web 3 conference in Paris which is a European equivalent of our own Web 2.0. Attending the conference were entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, tech experts, academics and, oddly enough, politicians.

Two speakers were extremely powerful: Hans Rosling, a Swedish professor who discussed the “myths of the developing world” and Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize winner (wow!). While neither of these two speakers had a particular web or tech angle to their appearances, a context was set for the conference. Internet technology, blogs, online communities and mobile technology have a global impact and that those of us involved in this “revolution” must be very aware of this. These technologies can be used to improve the quality of life worldwide. Africa and “low-income countries” were mentioned often. I would recommend checking out Professor Roslings work and/or viewing some of the video from the conference. This was some pretty heavy stuff and really drove home to me that this was an international conference – much different than ones I have been to on this side of the pond.

Two French presidential candidates also decided to make a last minute appearance at the conference. Poll leader Nicolas Sarkozy and underdog François Bayrou briefly spoke on Tuesday. Being somewhat of a francophile I was interested in seeing these two leaders speak but it was obvious that most of the conference attendees were not very interested. I don’t think the politicians were particularly interested in attendees either as they spoke in French (it was an English conference, remember 36 countries represented) and didn’t interact much at all with the audience. It was politics and unfortunately for a lot of people, not very relevant or even acceptable.

There were many other speakers and panels worth mentioning. Dannah Boyd is always spot-on when she presents. She did a very informative talk on younger web 2.0 users. Dogster investor Jeff Clavier led an interesting panel on whether or not there is another bubble. The panel included Dogster friend David Hornik (August), Techcrunch’s Ouriel Ohayon and VC super star Danny Rimer. Other names that stand out from the whirlwind two days are Marko Ahtisaari, Jonas Luster, Ewan Spence, Scott Rafer, Yossi Vardi, Tariq Krim, Reid Hoffman, and Gil Penchina. I wish I had more time to write in detail about the different subjects and the inspiration borne from them, but with a full email inbox, an office move today, our holiday party and jet lag - that will have to wait.

A special thanks to Marc Goldberg, Jeff Clavier and Rodrigo A. Sepúlveda Schulz for hosting a wonderful meet-up dinner Tuesday night.

UPDATE Dec. 18: There has been a lot of harsh criticism and also support in the past week since the event. And, after more reflection on the event, I would like to add my voice to the supporters. The internet isn’t just a bunch of geeks sitting around discussing ajax, blogs and RSS feeds. Politics, peace and world development are now relevant to this discussion. The world is changing and the web is part of what is changing it. Loic took a risk changing the schedule to get in these incredible speakers and I am glad he did. It was an amazing conference. As someone else said, Peres and Rosling were worth the trip in and of themselves. Yes, it was chaotic and some of the panels were stale topics but, I give the overall experience a big thumbs up.

Here are a few others who say it better than me: Rodrigo, Dannah, Jeff and the man himself, Loic.