ICE08: Opening Night

One thing you know you’re always going to get at a conference is a schwag bag. While the quality of the content of the bag varies, you can always be sure you’re going to find something fun in there at every conference.

Last night, I came home from the ICE08 Opening Reception and opened my bag to find a bar of Green & Black’s Maya Gold chocolate in there, courtesy of UK Trade & Investment Canada.

I haven’t written much about chocolate on Eloquation before, but in my many trips to the United Kingdom last year, I became enamored of Green & Black’s chocolate. Their dark chocolate is exquisite, and made from fair-trade organic ingredients. The Maya Gold mixes the dark chocolate with a blend of orange and spices, and is quite good.

Of course, the free bar of chocolate was just one of the great parts of the evening.

Over on the ICE08 blog, I posted some thoughts about the opening reception (which featured Blackberry-themed hors-d’oeuvres) and the keynote on social entrepreneurship. A quick quote from my post on the reception:

It isn’t every day you can snack on a Blackberry Pearl. Of course, it isn’t every day you find hors-d’oeuvres named after smartphones.

And from my post on the keynote:

Alan Gershenfeld, when speaking about his recent trip to Davos, said the entire crowd was awash with conversations about social entrepreneurship. That should come as no surprise: the very notion of social entrepreneurship has become sexy, with celebrities and influential figures around the world all embracing the concept as an important step in making the world a better place.

The sessions have just kicked off this morning, so expect even more updates on the ICE08 blog as the day goes on. Of course, you can always stay on top of live Twitter, Flickr, and del.icio.us updates over on Twemes.