Halley and Mitch say conferences “all the same”

by on December 18, 2005

Mitch Ratcliffe says he doesn’t go to conferences anymore cause they are all the same. Hmmm, I’ve been to a ton of conferences lately and while some are the same, many are quite different. The audience and speakers (other than me) were totally different at the IT Forum and Les Blogs and Global Voices conferences I visited in Europe. Maybe they just need to go to different conferences? And what would a conference be without seeing Halley?

  • Rob
    Robert,

    In your line of work, yes, you can get some variance, especially with some of the new/bleeding edge conferences you attend. In my little subset of the IT industry (IT security), they are boring and unimaginative. Things like Black Hat and the Vegas shows are trite and jaded. You have maybe a dozen people who know what they are doing and the rest are wanna-bes or Feds.
    What I wouldn't give for some exciting new technologies in the security arena. If I have to listen to one more person go on about using firewalls in a new way, I'm going to choke.
    Scoble, in a lot of ways I envy you your job, but in others I don't. Getting to meet cool people is always good fun, but you travel too much for my liking.
  • I go to many conferences and always see people I know and meet new people.

    At Interop last week in NYC I attended many workshops, you have to keep learning new things just to keep-up.

    I also attended three parties and I always have fun at parties!
  • hugh macleod
    Hmmmm... There are good and bad panels in any conference. You never know.

    I like conferences because it's fun to catch up with friends who live in different countries than me- like seeing people like Robert, Loic, Doc etc. And the conference gives the weekend a focus.

    And usually I'll meet one or two SUPREMELY COOL new people which always makes it worthwhile.

    The test of a good conference to me is, how groovy are the chill-out zones (i.e. the bars and cafes).

    Though to be fair, I suppose if you go to a lot of them you can start getting burned out.
  • Exception to the rule: BlogHER was awesome and will be again next year.
  • For me, DEMO stood out as a unique tech conference. Instead of focussing on a single industry or technology, they focus instead on people who are doing groundbreaking work in any tech-related industry.

    Last February, that meant everything from virtualization software to better joysticks to better bomb sniffers. The one thing the companies had in common was innovation.

    And because the attendees aren't potential customers, the presenters aren't selling so much as marketing--it's the least sleazy conference I've ever attended.
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