Unconferences take aim at the traditional events business
User generated content is everywhere from blogs to YouTube. We shouldn't be surprised that it is
taking aim at the traditional conference industry. Having made my living as a paid conference presenter for several years, I must say I am of two minds on this trend.
Mind #1: Conferences need to be more participatory, and this seems like an exciting way to make that happen. Attending a conference becomes less death by PowerPoint and more an event attendees shape and mold. Done well, these would be incredibly exciting. Imagine sitting in a room and getting to bounce ideas off designers of the caliber of Jonathan Ive or business ideas with entrepreneurs like Guy Kawasaki, and I'd be there in a heartbeat. The big question: if you hold an unconference, will people of that caliber come? Which leads to.....
Mind #2: I have no idea how the conference organizers are going to guarantee any type of quality experience for the attendees. When I was at Forrester, I was given literally years of facilitation and presentation training before I was deemed "Keynote speaker ready". You're not going to get that level of craft and polish at an unconference where anyone and everyone is going to be part of the flow. Yes, you get to interact and shape all the content, but you have to be prepared to sit in sessions that just don't work at all. Think of all the bad YouTube videos you've ever seen, and then imagine those experiences live for two or three days. That's the nightmare scenario.
All that said, the conference industry needs shaking up. According to Blackfriars' Sizing US Marketing 2006, US businesses spent $77 billion on events in 2006, yet too many conferences today are sponsor-funded sales pitches that waste attendees time. And the truly great conferences like the Wall Street Journal's D conference and the TED conference are nearly impossible for ordinary people to attend. So there's room for innovation here. My suspicion though, is that even in unconferences, there will be a few good ones and a lot of bad ones. In today's economy where productivity is king and attention is scarce, the challenge will be knowing which are which.
taking aim at the traditional conference industry. Having made my living as a paid conference presenter for several years, I must say I am of two minds on this trend.
Mind #1: Conferences need to be more participatory, and this seems like an exciting way to make that happen. Attending a conference becomes less death by PowerPoint and more an event attendees shape and mold. Done well, these would be incredibly exciting. Imagine sitting in a room and getting to bounce ideas off designers of the caliber of Jonathan Ive or business ideas with entrepreneurs like Guy Kawasaki, and I'd be there in a heartbeat. The big question: if you hold an unconference, will people of that caliber come? Which leads to.....
Mind #2: I have no idea how the conference organizers are going to guarantee any type of quality experience for the attendees. When I was at Forrester, I was given literally years of facilitation and presentation training before I was deemed "Keynote speaker ready". You're not going to get that level of craft and polish at an unconference where anyone and everyone is going to be part of the flow. Yes, you get to interact and shape all the content, but you have to be prepared to sit in sessions that just don't work at all. Think of all the bad YouTube videos you've ever seen, and then imagine those experiences live for two or three days. That's the nightmare scenario.
All that said, the conference industry needs shaking up. According to Blackfriars' Sizing US Marketing 2006, US businesses spent $77 billion on events in 2006, yet too many conferences today are sponsor-funded sales pitches that waste attendees time. And the truly great conferences like the Wall Street Journal's D conference and the TED conference are nearly impossible for ordinary people to attend. So there's room for innovation here. My suspicion though, is that even in unconferences, there will be a few good ones and a lot of bad ones. In today's economy where productivity is king and attention is scarce, the challenge will be knowing which are which.
Technorati Tags: Events, Presentations, Unconferences, Sizing US Marketing
posted by Carl Howe at
11:35 AM
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