Comments on: How To Make Conferences Great

By: maxkalehoff

maxkalehoff — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:11:06 +0000

Amber, Thanks for your note. Rubber chicken should have been at the top of
my list.
Max

By: Amber Naslund

Amber Naslund — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:04:09 +0000

Freaking beautiful. Seriously, I've gotten myself so amped up about many a conference, only to be brain damaged by said sandpaper poultry and mind numbing, scripted and canned powerpoint presentations. I go to a conference to be smarter, to meet other smart people (hopefully smarter than me), and nothing deflates me more quickly than realizing I've been duped. (Ok, maybe not deliberately buuuuutt…)

I'm especially YAY about #6 and #7. There are so many smart people out there and so few speaking slots. What say we relive a bit of a discussion forum and let the ideas emerge? I mean, hey. It works for Twitter.

By: maxkalehoff

maxkalehoff — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:11:06 +0000

Amber, Thanks for your note. Rubber chicken should have been at the top of
my list.
Max

By: Amber Naslund

Amber Naslund — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:04:09 +0000

By: maxkalehoff

maxkalehoff — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:06:03 +0000

TO'B,
Thanks for your comment. There is a school of thought called the
"unconference". I like the idea, but too many of those have had too little
structure. I think a great way to cultivate more meaningful conferences is
to remove the commercial aspect. Why do you need to pay thousands of dollars
to bring people together in a substandard venue? More on that later.
Max