Marc Canter wonders why we need to hear from the same old same old time and time again.
A few disclaimers. 1) I didn't even know Microsoft was a sponsor of Kevin Werback's SuperNova conference before I accepted. 2) My boss would rather I stay home, do more videos, and didn't ask me to speak. 3) I accepted because I'll be in California anyway so it wouldn't cost me (or Microsoft or the Supernova conference) anything to speak.
The session I'm on is called "Business Blogging." Since I wrote a book on the topic and do a video blog for Microsoft Kevin asked me to speak.
But, I'm left scratching my head cause Marc asks Kevin to bring people I've already heard speak. OK, that's a mixed message! So, what is it? Do we want the same people again or not? Hmmm.
The thing is, known names sell tickets. In the 1990s I planned conferences and did a bit of research. If the list of speakers included lots of names that were recognizable the attendance was higher than if we included newbies. Hey, that's why I hired Dave Winer to speak (and Marc Canter too).
By the way, I've been at dozens of conferences in the past few years and on that list I've never heard most of these people speak.
Oh, and if you want to hear people you've never heard speak before you should go to the Blogher conference. Maryam is speaking there for the first time. I'll be an attendee. To be fair Marc attended that last year.
Update: 1/3rd of the speakers at Supernova this year are women. That's much higher than at other industry conferences I've been at this year (only BlogHer is higher). Also, Marc Canter spoke at Supernova last year. Dave Winer spoke at the first one.
I'm particularly looking forward to Amy Jo Kim's session at SuperNova. She spoke at SXSW and got rave reviews (I missed that one but heard people talking about it in the hallways).
Scobleizer 
I’ll be at Blogher – and Gnomedex too.
We’ll put on an unconference across the street – at the House of Shields – during Supernova.
Cheaper drinks.
More hotties and interesting peeps.
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I’ll be at Blogher – and Gnomedex too.
We’ll put on an unconference across the street – at the House of Shields – during Supernova.
Cheaper drinks.
More hotties and interesting peeps.
LikeLike
I’ll be at Blogher – and Gnomedex too.
We’ll put on an unconference across the street – at the House of Shields – during Supernova.
Cheaper drinks.
More hotties and interesting peeps.
LikeLike
No offence, but Marc’s post is a riot. His solution to having the same old people speaking at conferences is… to have Dave Winer speak on RSS and Steve speak on Attention. Brilliant.
What Marc really seems to want is the foremost authorities in each area speaking on each topic.
But, guess what, what happens when you do that is … you get the same damned people over and over again.
Hell, I even speak too much on this stuff. These days it’s only when fantastic little communities get together (mesh) or when I get to speak to specific industries (airlines, automobiles) that I get excited. Otherwise we’re just covering the same old ground. Over. And Over. And Over.
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No offence, but Marc’s post is a riot. His solution to having the same old people speaking at conferences is… to have Dave Winer speak on RSS and Steve speak on Attention. Brilliant.
What Marc really seems to want is the foremost authorities in each area speaking on each topic.
But, guess what, what happens when you do that is … you get the same damned people over and over again.
Hell, I even speak too much on this stuff. These days it’s only when fantastic little communities get together (mesh) or when I get to speak to specific industries (airlines, automobiles) that I get excited. Otherwise we’re just covering the same old ground. Over. And Over. And Over.
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No offence, but Marc’s post is a riot. His solution to having the same old people speaking at conferences is… to have Dave Winer speak on RSS and Steve speak on Attention. Brilliant.
What Marc really seems to want is the foremost authorities in each area speaking on each topic.
But, guess what, what happens when you do that is … you get the same damned people over and over again.
Hell, I even speak too much on this stuff. These days it’s only when fantastic little communities get together (mesh) or when I get to speak to specific industries (airlines, automobiles) that I get excited. Otherwise we’re just covering the same old ground. Over. And Over. And Over.
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Jeremy: agreed. I’m getting bored too. But I’m still meeting people who barely know what a blog is (and these are folks doing marketing for big companies). So, I expect to do a few more speeches.
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Jeremy: agreed. I’m getting bored too. But I’m still meeting people who barely know what a blog is (and these are folks doing marketing for big companies). So, I expect to do a few more speeches.
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Jeremy: agreed. I’m getting bored too. But I’m still meeting people who barely know what a blog is (and these are folks doing marketing for big companies). So, I expect to do a few more speeches.
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That’s a good point, Robert. Guys like Marc have been to hundreds of these things, and know everybody and what they’re going to say about everything. But people who are just getting their feet wet in this whole Web 2.0 thing — like a lot of the people we expect at our conference in Toronto in May, which Jeremy alluded to (more details at meshconference.com) — don’t know who most of these people are, nor are they as bored as Marc seems to be with the whole thing. There are still lots of people looking for a clue, and we hope to help them find one.
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That’s a good point, Robert. Guys like Marc have been to hundreds of these things, and know everybody and what they’re going to say about everything. But people who are just getting their feet wet in this whole Web 2.0 thing — like a lot of the people we expect at our conference in Toronto in May, which Jeremy alluded to (more details at meshconference.com) — don’t know who most of these people are, nor are they as bored as Marc seems to be with the whole thing. There are still lots of people looking for a clue, and we hope to help them find one.
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That’s a good point, Robert. Guys like Marc have been to hundreds of these things, and know everybody and what they’re going to say about everything. But people who are just getting their feet wet in this whole Web 2.0 thing — like a lot of the people we expect at our conference in Toronto in May, which Jeremy alluded to (more details at meshconference.com) — don’t know who most of these people are, nor are they as bored as Marc seems to be with the whole thing. There are still lots of people looking for a clue, and we hope to help them find one.
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The important question though is do you have something new to say? There are some people who say something new and different each time they speak. Other people give the same talk over and over again. The first time is was wonderful. The second time there are a few extra details you pick out. The third time you might as well be checking you email or reading a blog. Don’t conferences start to lose their value to repeat customers if there is no new content?
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The important question though is do you have something new to say? There are some people who say something new and different each time they speak. Other people give the same talk over and over again. The first time is was wonderful. The second time there are a few extra details you pick out. The third time you might as well be checking you email or reading a blog. Don’t conferences start to lose their value to repeat customers if there is no new content?
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The important question though is do you have something new to say? There are some people who say something new and different each time they speak. Other people give the same talk over and over again. The first time is was wonderful. The second time there are a few extra details you pick out. The third time you might as well be checking you email or reading a blog. Don’t conferences start to lose their value to repeat customers if there is no new content?
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Marc has a point worth addressing. For non-newbies, what’s the point of attending conferences annually just to hear the same people speak on the same topics?
Maybe what would be more interesting is if content was centered around what’s changed or happening. Or perhaps talks need to become conversations and newbies should do their homework.
I’m not entirely sold on unconferences but it embody interesting ideas.
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Marc has a point worth addressing. For non-newbies, what’s the point of attending conferences annually just to hear the same people speak on the same topics?
Maybe what would be more interesting is if content was centered around what’s changed or happening. Or perhaps talks need to become conversations and newbies should do their homework.
I’m not entirely sold on unconferences but it embody interesting ideas.
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Marc has a point worth addressing. For non-newbies, what’s the point of attending conferences annually just to hear the same people speak on the same topics?
Maybe what would be more interesting is if content was centered around what’s changed or happening. Or perhaps talks need to become conversations and newbies should do their homework.
I’m not entirely sold on unconferences but it embody interesting ideas.
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Alfred: I’ve changed my talk at least six times in the past six months. And thanks to, um, feedback I got on the speaking tour last week, I’ll change it yet again. Watch our presentation in Paris, in Brussels, at Google, and last week at Microsoft and you would have seen totally different presentations.
Anonymous: it’s very common to learn something new from the same speaker. Everytime I hear Jeffrey Zeldman, for instance, I learn something new and hear a different speech. Same for most of the people on this list.
Of course, if you think you have nothing new to learn…
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Alfred: I’ve changed my talk at least six times in the past six months. And thanks to, um, feedback I got on the speaking tour last week, I’ll change it yet again. Watch our presentation in Paris, in Brussels, at Google, and last week at Microsoft and you would have seen totally different presentations.
Anonymous: it’s very common to learn something new from the same speaker. Everytime I hear Jeffrey Zeldman, for instance, I learn something new and hear a different speech. Same for most of the people on this list.
Of course, if you think you have nothing new to learn…
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Alfred: I’ve changed my talk at least six times in the past six months. And thanks to, um, feedback I got on the speaking tour last week, I’ll change it yet again. Watch our presentation in Paris, in Brussels, at Google, and last week at Microsoft and you would have seen totally different presentations.
Anonymous: it’s very common to learn something new from the same speaker. Everytime I hear Jeffrey Zeldman, for instance, I learn something new and hear a different speech. Same for most of the people on this list.
Of course, if you think you have nothing new to learn…
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marc, the HoS unconference is the best idea i’ve heard in a a looooong time. i’ll sign up to co-chair it with ya.
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marc, the HoS unconference is the best idea i’ve heard in a a looooong time. i’ll sign up to co-chair it with ya.
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marc, the HoS unconference is the best idea i’ve heard in a a looooong time. i’ll sign up to co-chair it with ya.
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Oh, I give a totally different talk each time, but the problem is that the audience is often in the same “what is blogging, why should I do it?” phase. I’m sure there are others out there besides big names that could effectively answer that question 🙂
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Oh, I give a totally different talk each time, but the problem is that the audience is often in the same “what is blogging, why should I do it?” phase. I’m sure there are others out there besides big names that could effectively answer that question 🙂
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Oh, I give a totally different talk each time, but the problem is that the audience is often in the same “what is blogging, why should I do it?” phase. I’m sure there are others out there besides big names that could effectively answer that question 🙂
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Great to see that SuperNova has such a strong roster of women speakers. I *knew* they were out there!
One of the reasons some of the same people do the circuit is that they are a known quantity. I’ve organized a conference and one of the things I worried about was the quality of speaker. So, if I’d seen someone or knew they were a strong speaker, I’d rather have them versus taking a chance on an unknown quantity. Because we’ve all sat through some terrible speakers.
This makes it very tough for new people trying to break in. One of the great things about conferences like BlogHer is that there is a bit more freedom in who is brought on board. With SuperNova, they are making the claim that they bring “heavy hitters” to the table. Very different claim for BlogHer.
All about setting expectations.
Cheers … Kate
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Great to see that SuperNova has such a strong roster of women speakers. I *knew* they were out there!
One of the reasons some of the same people do the circuit is that they are a known quantity. I’ve organized a conference and one of the things I worried about was the quality of speaker. So, if I’d seen someone or knew they were a strong speaker, I’d rather have them versus taking a chance on an unknown quantity. Because we’ve all sat through some terrible speakers.
This makes it very tough for new people trying to break in. One of the great things about conferences like BlogHer is that there is a bit more freedom in who is brought on board. With SuperNova, they are making the claim that they bring “heavy hitters” to the table. Very different claim for BlogHer.
All about setting expectations.
Cheers … Kate
LikeLike
Great to see that SuperNova has such a strong roster of women speakers. I *knew* they were out there!
One of the reasons some of the same people do the circuit is that they are a known quantity. I’ve organized a conference and one of the things I worried about was the quality of speaker. So, if I’d seen someone or knew they were a strong speaker, I’d rather have them versus taking a chance on an unknown quantity. Because we’ve all sat through some terrible speakers.
This makes it very tough for new people trying to break in. One of the great things about conferences like BlogHer is that there is a bit more freedom in who is brought on board. With SuperNova, they are making the claim that they bring “heavy hitters” to the table. Very different claim for BlogHer.
All about setting expectations.
Cheers … Kate
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