Dublin has emerged as the most likely venue for the first international version of the Wall Street Journal'sconference, D: All Things Digital, which is headed up by its influential technology reviewer, Walt Mossberg.

Mr Mossberg and D co-organiser Kara Swisher visited Dublin this week to look at possible venues to host an event in September 2008. Ms Swisher posted videos and blog posts from their visit at allthingsd.com, the website associated with the conference.

D has become one of the most popular technology conferences in the US since it was first held in 2003. The last event in May attracted worldwide attention by getting Apple and Microsoft founders Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to appear on stage together for a joint interview.

Mr Mossberg said he and Ms Swisher were keen to hold their first event outside the US, and that Dublin was the "leading candidate", citing the strong technology sector, the booming economy and the "charm" of the city as attractive features.

He said the provisionally entitled EuroD conference would have more European speakers and product demonstrations from European firms, and would be smaller than its US predecessors.

Unlike other conferences, D does not have keynotes or presentations from sponsoring companies. Instead, Mr Mossberg and Ms Swisher conduct on-stage interviews with leading technology and media figures.

Speakers this year included YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and film director George Lucas. The organisers held out for three years to get Sony's chief executive, Howard Stringer, resisting Sony offers of lower-ranked executives to speak.

Although he denied that attendance at D was by invite only, Mr Mossberg said it was a "hard ticket". Tickets to the three-day event in California cost $4,000 (€2,919) but sold out almost immediately.

The other cities under consideration for the conference are Barcelona and Amsterdam.