Event Horizon
Submitted by doc on Tue, 06/22/2004 - 14:52.
So I'm thinking about what a DIY-IT event might be like. This much I'm sure of: It wouldn't be vendor-centric or vendor-oriented. It would be mostly about what IT shops are doing on their own, with or without the help of vendors. But what else? Let's see...
Here's a short list:
- A collegial setting — not necessarily a hotel, but certainly convenient to inexpensive and comfortable accomodations. A university, perhaps?
- Sessions and panels that are based around subjects more than around personalities. In other words, foster conversation among colleagues, not the usual lecturing to an "audience."
- Hacking would be involved. Techies would get together with other techies to solve common problems. I've seen these at JabberCon (whatever happened to that event?) and ApacheCon, among other places, and think they're useful in countless ways.
- The quality of a retreat, rather than yet another Professional Event.
In other words, I'd like it to be about outcome for the attendees, rather than output for speakers and sponsors.
More background here.
My models are Dave Winer's BloggerCons and Jerry Michalski's retreats (which are somewhat private affairs among Jerry's social network and therefore have no offcial site).
For outcomes, I'd like to see results like those Lenn Pryor wrote up for BloggerCon.
How about the rest of ya'll? Here's a question to get you started: What do you hate about IT trade shows that you'd like to see in something new and completely different?
To get my own self started, I'll be attending the Information Systems Audit and Control Association event next week in Boston. I'll speak there on Tuesday about open source in IT. It's a meeting of professionals, and has a strong DIY angle to it. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.
London
When they gonna stop blow everything?
London
When they gonna stop blow everything?
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WTF
These comments are like rubbish
Sometimes
Sometimes I can't understand...
I've got it
I've got it!
Bullshit
Sorry but you are discussing bullshit
But other said
But other said that the judgement induces common sense, tertium non datur
But other said
But other said that the judgement induces common sense, tertium non datur
As one clever
As one clever person said the judgement transforms tragical hedonism.
No
Sorry. I'm not agree with you.
Conference model vs. too many conferences
I am hoping to have much of what you discuss at MeshForum which will be Oct 10-13th in Chicago. For MeshForum our goal is very much to get about 175-200 really smart, interesting people in a room together for 3 days (spread out over 4 days so 2 full and 2 half days). Our initial focus has been to ideally emphasize actual business problems vs. underlying technical challenges of networks such as social network software.
That said, I do think that a conference should be focused on what the attendees get out of the conference vs. what the speakers try to push out.
I do, however, also agree with the comment that vendors should not be excluded, all too often IT vendors and "hackers" are positioned as on opposide sides, when, for the most part, we are all trying to both make a living from our technical skills and more importantly solve real, complex problems with that technology.
Keeping in mind that solving complex problems can be worth something, and that as a result businesses (or others) are more than willing to pay for these solutions - whether custom systems, packaged software, services, hardware or the like - is not a minor task.
DIY-IT Aussie style
Great ideas / challenges Doc! We're planning a new event for Melbourne, Australia (http://reilly.typepad.com/cameronreilly/2004/07/innovation_conf.html) and I'd love to incorporate your ideas. I've held smaller events along these lines in the past with lots of success.
OSCOM?
OSCOM http://oscom.org has conferences like you are suggesting for Open Source content management. I went to OSCOM 3 in Cambridge and it was great. Plenty of pratical information and interaction with other real people who use or develop OS content management systems.
About vendors...
One of the things that I thought was missing from BloggerCon was a clued vendor presence. Part of what worked about the conference was the lack of booths, the lack of schwag. What was missing was the real story that a lot of these people were dying to tell... how their product or service fits in the big picture. If there is a way to facilitate those conversations without fostering a Junior Comdex atmosphere, then I think vendors should be welcomed as participants. This has the added value of putting people's interests forward: "I think xyz aggregation is a good thing. Incidentally I make an xyz aggregator that I'm giving away right now and I'd like to sell some day." The tech side of BloggerCon suffered from keeping us blind to the tech marketplace. So while the size is nice, and the economics are nice, the inhibitions - the rules against vendors - aren't (in my opinion) necessary).
WebEdge
I had the same feeling after the last SxSW in Austin. The panel discussions were utterly useless - nothing solved, nothing gained. A REAL IT conference needs to address real-world, immediate needs. Discussion of current issues that are usefull, not just an ego-stroke for the speakers.
One of the best conferences I attended was WebEdge when it was held on Apple's R&D campus several years ago. Probably the ONLY conference I've been to where I actually LEARNED something. So many smart people working and talking together, solving immediate needs and exploring bleeding edge technologies. And heck, some great presentations for the newbies in the crowd. The trade show was but a side show, not important at all.
Doc - ther DIY-IT conference idea you have sounds alot like this. I'd attend for sure. So would my employees and friends. I'd make sure of that.
Minor nitpick:
The BloggerCon link in the main article doesn't point to BloggerCon.
Minor correction
Thanks! I just fixed that link, and another one as well.
A long weekend with computer folks
Having never been to a BloggerCon or anything smaller than Oracle World, I'd like to see an IT conference done around the model of a small science fiction convention (or if you prefer, what local users group meetings once were):
It's probable that I'm reinventing the wheel. I have worked on and run this sort of conference before, and would love to help out. Arizona's a nice place in the spring and fall (hint, hint :) )
Good ideas
Those are all good ideas. I hadn't thought of the sci-fi model. It's a good one.
Hints taken!
Have you looked at Jerry Weinberg's AYE?
It sounds to me like your ideal and what they do have more than a little in common.
The site/wiki is here: http://www.ayeconference.com/
HTH,
Pat Morrison