TUANZ 2006 Business Internet Awards

I've just got home from the TUANZ 2006 Business Internet Awards. Well actually I've just got home after walking from the TUANZ 2006 Business Internet Awards to the supermarket to buy catfood, milk and ice cream - but you didn't really need to know that, did you? No. Alrighty then.

The awards ceremony itself lasted less than an hour, which doesn't seem that long to me, not when I've sat through endless 3-hour Oscar broadcasts on telly waiting for Peter Jackson et al to bring home the bacon for NZ. The speeches before and after the actual awards lasted at least half that time, so in fact the real reason we were there - to honour the nominees and award-winners (and cross our fingers for our own nomination) - lasted barely 30 minutes.

Not long enough, I feel!

There was lots of talk during the speeches about inspiration, and ingenuity, and new ideas, and web 2.0 (whatever-the-hell-that-is), and very very little about each of the nominees in each category - who were all there because of the inspiration, and ingenuity, and new ideas, and web 2.0 (whatever-the-hell-that-is) that they each demonstrated.

All we got in each category was a quick read-through of each nominee's single-sentence summary, accompanied by (I'm not kidding) just two or maybe three screenshots on the big screen, which went by so fast that if you blinked, you missed them.

Not good enough, TUANZ! Could do better!

How about asking each of the nominees to produce a two-minute overview/summary/visual display of their nominated website/application, which can be shown up on the big screen as their name is read out?

They could produce this as part of the 10-minute submission which they were all required to give yesterday as part of the judging process. It could be video or flash or - hell, even a PowerPoint presentation (!) - whatever the nominee preferred, with a voice-over, or a two-minute script for the compere to read aloud, or whatever - just something that would show the rest of us why this particular website or application was nominated, and why their creators think they deserve to win.

It would give us a bit of inspiration throughout the evening, and give us all an opportunity to share with the rest of the industry - our peers - what we've been up to over the past year.

Of course, I suppose we could all go off after the event and look up the nominated websites onli... oh, wait, there's barely a URL listed in the official programme. Duh!

Apart from that... nice food, great puddings, very generous supply of libations, cracking sound system, nice visuals, a comfortable environment in which to mingle afterwards... so thanks to everyone who organised and took part in the proceedings, and to the judges who gave up many hours to do the judging - it's just that I think you could make it even better with a bit more focus on why we were all there.

Thanks for listening, and congratulations to 3months and Flightless who took the Information Award 2006, which we were also nominated for. Drat! I still think Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand rocks, though. Go Shift!

Technorati tags: TUANZ, Business Internet Awards, New Zealand, Shift, Te Ara, web development.