The day started with an early breakfast – the orange juice was vital for everyone who has been living on the standard Sibos diet of canapés and alcohol and who might be frightened of getting scurvy!  But the great draw that got people out of bed was Nicholas Negroponte, the author of “Being Digital”.  He gave us some of his “big thinking”, with all of us scribbling down nuggets from his creativity, or taking pictures of him in the hope that by having him inside our digital cameras, some of his intelligence might rub off.

As always, there were interesting parallels to make.  More petrol is used just to move a huge, heavy SUV than is used to move the person inside the SUV (how many bankers does it take to move a SEPA payment?).  Peer-to-peer communications is the future (which might worry some people who think that putting all of their payments messages through one big centralised messaging hub is the future).

One fantastic idea of his – and not just an idea, but a reality about to happen – is his One Laptop Per Child initiative, and his upcoming “Give One, Get One” campaign – buy one laptop, and a second one gets given to a child to own in a developing country. You have to take a look at www.laptop.org.  Ever seen a thousand bankers drooling over a cool green-and-white laptop?  Watch out for this one!

And then most of the day was spent in the Standards Forum – the biggest turn-out ever, with standing room only.  Users, standards developers, vendors and consultants all working together to work out how to do things more efficiently.  That’s something else that makes Sibos good value.