If you didn’t make it to Blogres on saturday, you can still catch part of the action by checking the videos of the lectures.
I checked mine, and can’t believe I talk so slow that’s my swiss origins showing… Thank you for stickin’ in there!

Thanks to all the people – and specially Duška, Lea and Samo – who worked so hard to make Blogres, the first international bloggers conference in Slovenia, a reality and a success!
The program was really rich, with a lot of interesting lectures and a couple of to the point workshops, but the atmosphere was very casual and laid back. You can check out the official pictures here, tons of pics from everybody here, and specially very nice pictures from Eirik here.

It was a very exciting experience for me to be part of this event as a lecturer…and also a bit of hard work!
The subject of my presentation was “Blogging as a business opportunity“.
This subject covers quite a wide scope and at first I worked on a presentation possibly more appealing to marketing people, focusing on how brands need to change the way they communicate in order to meet the new expectations of the consumers, and how blogging and in particular corporate blogging is a key factor of success. You can check it out just below.

But then Samo reminded me that this event was for bloggers, and that what they wanted to hear is how a blog could be an opportunity to turn a passion into a workplace. He told me: “Show them the light!“…and he was right.
I reworked on the presentation to illustrate with snowbroader.eu that today all the elements are aligned to look at blogging as a ticket to a better life. The presentation is below and I hope you liked it.

Of course I wasn’t spared by technical problems (first the sound then the internet ) but I guess it went pretty good after all.
So thank you for listening!

I was impressed on how much media was present at the event, and got some interviews going with RTV SLO and Studio City. Cool! Some of my pictures are here btw.
I was also happy to see so many enthusiastic people and had a lot of interesting conversations.

But maybe the best part of the day was the evening .
Daka and me met up with Lea, Duška, Katja, Eirik, Samo, and Kamenko for a really pleasant diner in As and then we all headed to Grad Kodeljevo for the loungebox style party where we enjoyed the mojitos and the fresh housy vibes distilled by Ozi and the Prosti slog crew.
Nothing more to add except that I’m ok for coming back next year to the second edition of Blogres!

Blogres is the first international bloggers’ congress in Slovenia and it will take place on the 9th of June, 2007 at Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana.
The idea of the organisers for this event is to encourage discussion on important themes being opened up online by the public, especially by the blogosphere, intergrate a community of bloggers, who live online but also communicate in person, meet with individuals from different cultures, who can share their experiences with us.

I think it’s a great idea, and for us it’s another cool opportunity to go spend a week-end and have a good time in beautiful Ljubljana, as I was been lucky enough to get invited as a speaker! The theme of my presentation will be “blogging as a business opportunity”. My idea is to focus on how the relationship between advisers and consumers has changed and how blogging can help fill the gap….

Of course there will be a lot of other interesting subjects discussed during the day as well as workshops, like the “pimp your blog” one hosted by Ozren.
I’m also looking forward to the party in Luna Park, where the atmosphere is always so special!

So see you at Blogres!

Why did Romans, Celts, and even prehistoric settlers submerge their personal belongings, from swords to dishes, in a shallow river in Slovenia?

A very interesting story in this month National Geographic magazine.

Archaeologist Andrej Gaspari is haunted by pieces of the past. His hometown river, the Ljubljanica, has yielded thousands of them—Celtic coins, Roman luxuries, medieval swords—all from a shallow 12-mile (19 kilometers) stretch. Those who lived near and traveled along the stream that winds through Slovenia’s capital of Ljubljana considered it sacred, Gaspari believes. That would explain why generations of Celts, Romans, and earlier inhabitants offered treasures—far too many to be accidental—to the river during rites of passage, in mourning, or as thanksgiving for battles won.

But Gaspari may never be able to explain for certain why the Ljubljanica holds one of Europe’s richest stores of river treasures, many of them remarkably preserved by the soft sediments and gentle waters. Too many pieces of the puzzle have already disappeared.

During the past two decades, sport divers have made the river their playground, removing most of some 10,000 to 13,000 objects found so far. Even though removing artifacts from the Ljubljanica has long been illegal, professional archaeologists have been forced to compete with private collectors. Some divers sold their loot to museums; others to the highest bidder. Some kept their treasures private. Many artifacts have left the country, untraceable. Gaspari’s greatest torment comes from the knowledge that few maverick collectors know—or care—where exactly their prizes were found. For an archaeologist, an object’s meaning comes as much from its context—location, association with other objects—as from the prize itself. Without context, there is no story.

Mladen Mück is one of Gaspari’s tormentors. Now in his 40s, the Bosnian-born architect began diving in the river in 1985 and has brought up about a thousand pieces. In his kitchen in Ljubljana, a plastic box contains prehistoric tools. Upstairs, dusty cases hold other rare artifacts, including deer antler axes. Mück says he has no intention of selling what he has found. Like many collectors, he babies his goods and claims they are better off with him than with the authorities.

“More people see these artifacts in my house than if I gave them to a museum,” he says with a dismissive wave. “There they would sit in a basement.”

Gaspari disagrees. A team at the National Museum of Slovenia is preparing an exhibit of the river’s treasures that will tour Europe in 2008, he says. Still, he hopes that someday Mück will hand over his items. “My heart is strong,” quips the 33-year-old archaeologist. If Mück is obstinate, “I will outlive him.”

Ciril Jazbec is 19 years old fella from Slovenia and he loves photography. His work can inspire you. Check out his web site…

In the latest issue of Wallpaper the future Ljubljana Air Traffic Control Tower gets it’s 15 minutes of fame. Well I have to say that i do like our retro airport, but agree that it’s time to shift into the 5th gear. I can’t wait to get some more news about it… but for now this is the only “teaser” i could find:

Air traffic controllers at Ljublana airport will be moving out of their 1960s tower and into this splendis new 100m structure in 2008. The airport is expanding with a new terminal, hence the need for new tower and air traffic control centre. According to Boštjan Vuga, of Slovenia’s Sadar Vuga Architects, air traffic controllers can use the centre to “relax after intense working hours, read, work out, look at the mountains or sleep in a capsule dorm”.

And what I find cool is that on the same page they talk about the new towers for ground zero in New York.

Watch the video

Finally managed to recover and upload this video that I edited back in the winter 2004.
It was a little snowboard contest organised in Stari Vrh, a small mountain resort next to Ljubljana.
There was a big air followed by a rail contest. It was freazing cold but it was full good!

Tags: starivrh, slovenia, snowboard

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by dikonaca with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.

Line rider is a toy created by a slovene design student which is getting huge coverage on the web right now. Just type “line rider” in youtube and you’ll unterstand. Careful this stuff is addictive. Nice way to test build your kickers for this winter!

Every once in a while on saturday mornings, along the Ljubljanica, there is the Art street, where slovene artists come to show and sell their paintings, crafts and so on. There are some really beautiful things to buy, like for example pictures on wood or illustrations from Mojca Sekuli. I created a photo album with some pics as well as pics from the market. And then there is the street art nicely developing on walls around and in the center of LJ. Ozren created a group pool on Flickr with some of his really nice pics of LJ street art to celebrate and document this form of free expression.

I rarely blog about my job, because what I do on a daily basis wouldn’t interest anyone (except Ignace, since he’s my contact in the Netherlands! ). But apart from my regular job, I’m part of a project group working on the marketing launch of the new Twingo (yes I work for Renault, still). We are the ‘YOUNG‘ group! 25 to 35 years old employees giving their feedback on what the Twingo project team is preparing for the launch of new Twingo targeted specially for young people : urban, ‘fun’, a bit hypish, into technology and connectivity, creative, who like cars but are not dependant on it and so on…;)
The Twingo Concept will be revealed next week by Renault’s CEO at the Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris. There has been a total black out on pictures to avoid leaks which have happenend in the past, in order to have complete exclusivity and to create a real event. People will be stuned : new Twingo is a far cry from the 12 years old toyish feminine but cute previous Twingo. This Twingo Concept is on steroids. It has muscles and is clearly targeting young men. The events which will go on during the car show are quiet cool too. Influencial bloogers will be invited along journalists to cover the revelation and start creating the viral buzz. A first website will be launched on the 28th sept, before the official website featuring a lot of interactive animation will go online a few days later. For this web project and other limited edition Twingos to come, the design agencies have been working with some young fresh webdesigners and the results should be great.

Then the official launch of the new commercial Twingo is planned for 2007. It’s quiet important for Slovenia too, as the car will be build exclusively in Novo Mesto. Check out the Twingo Concept website on the 28th and leave your first impressions of the car here. I’m going to the car show myself on the 2sd oct, so I’ll post some pics here too later on.

Remember them? Well they are back!
This event is happening in Maribor next WE. Get out there for some bike fights, freestyle action, skateboard contest, break dance show and live concerts!

More infos here.

Hello world!

15 years ago, in 1991, Slovenia declared it's independency. We decided to continue our own future apart from Yugoslavia. Breaking this link was a huge decision – cos u know – we were/are Yugo. I was maybe too young to feel all the emotions that were in the air at that time. But if you're gonna visit Slovenia, ask somebody older about it, i'm sure you'll hear an interesting story.

And now we are: part of EU and NATO, meeting Bush and Putin, having some problems on our border with Croatia, winning some olympic medals, preparing for euro, not qualifing on the world cup in Germany,… what else? If you ask me we're doing good, no?

Happy birthday Slovenia!

Matjaz Krivic is probably the best-known slovene photographer. He is a “globe-trotting photographer specialising in capturing the personality and grandeur of indigeneous people and places”.
We have always been fascinated by the purity of his pictures and were super stocked to discover his open air expo in the Tivoli Park in Ljubljana. This expo focuses on Earth temples :

Throughout my travels, I have noticed one special trait shared by cultures all over the world. People seem to have a need for and attraction to a special place of worship and medidation be it a church, a mountain, a river, or simply a rock stuck in the ground. [...] My aim here is to capture this feeling of gratitude and adoration for life on earth, and to share it with those who see these photographs.

Please check out his beautiful website here and get inspired.

If you remember this previous post about the cool “Street Art” expo which was held in Ljubljana’s International Centre of Graphic Arts in april – may, we were saying that Ljubljana would soon get “space invaded”!
Well it’s done and we tried to hunt some space invaders out last WE. There are 20 spread all over Ljubljana and we only managed to spot 6!!! You can get a hint here and try to keep your eyes opened! Space invaders hunting is fun!

"Discovering the preserved helps preserving the discovered". This quote comes from an ad for Slovenia in the last National Geographic magazine. I like the way the slovene tourism board is axing its promotion right now, focusing on media and targets attracted by the outdoors, the untouched, natural adventures and discoveries. It's funny also because this ad shows a brown slovene bear standing tall…
Funny because right now in France there is a huge polemic about slovene bears. Slovenia and France agreed in 2005 to send five brown bears to France's Pyrenees region this year to help boost the bear population. Slovenia transported two female bears to France in late April. The remaining bears were due to be transferred by the end of August but farmers in the Pyrenees protested against the move which they say would threaten local people and livestock. Slovenia said on Friday it had temporarily stopped sending wild bears to France following the discovery of 12 containers in which bear food was mixed with pieces of glass in the area where one of the bears was moved to. To be continued…

The slovene tourism board produced some beautiful TV spots to promote Slovenija. You can have a look at the 4 minutes spot here and enjoy the diversity that this country offers.
Pogrešam te!

Fish, Urban and Luka are my riding buddies from Slovenija.
When I arrived in LJ in the winter of 2003, and tried to hook up with snowboarders, I ended up meeting Špela and all the Snurfclub crew. 2003 was an epic winter with crazy riding days in Nassfeld, Krvavec, Vogel, Cerkno and even les 2 Alps!
This winter, with Martin also, the guys have been quiet busy organising events, like the “Freestyle desant 2006” – a city jib rail tour – or “Explosion of fun” in Kranjska Gora. These guys represent the slovenian snowboard scene since ever! They are all talented riders and I think I improved my level riding with them. I really like going out in the mountain with them because they have a crazy motivation and the expression ‘live to ride’ comes close to the truth with them.
So they deserve their 5 minutes of fame! Check out their mini-interview on Adrenalin (the slovene extreme sport mag).
Since Fish is always the one taking pictures, the picture above is Fish in the Krvavec 2004 pipe. I uploaded all our ’slo’ riding pictures here, in memories of the good ol’times!