What when wrong! There we so many things wrong with this conference it really makes me wonder if the hype of ‘web2.0′ is getting seriously out of control. I remember back in 2000 that this was the way of things, everyone had conferences and everyone loved charging £400-500 for them, but few produced good events/conferences.
Just a few weeks ago I went to the ‘European Corporate Blogging’ conference and it was without a doubt a total joke. Few (50%) were in a attendance even though the room was tiny - perhaps only accommodating a 150 people. Most of the speakers were about as prepared as I could get just having woken up and fallen out of bed. Although in fairness the IBM, HP, and Headshift presentations were pretty spot on and contained value, as well there was a favourite among those I spoke with was Mr JP Rangaswami the Confused of Calcutta author.
So just over 1/3 of the speakers had any value to contribute. You wonder if I am being overly critical right? Well there was about 20-25 people left in attendance from 3pm onwards. That’s a over 2hrs before the end of the conference.
Here are a couple killers that happened right at the outset that are bog standard in my opinion:
- No Wifi, at £500 I expect Wifi, but they wanted an addition £14 for the day of Wifi. Cheap and disgraceful.
- As well they never considered that anyone in attendance would blog, take pictures about the event as they never suggested any method for tagging e.g. @Media2006, so everyone can find the information on the web later
- They didn’t record the speakers so we could download the podcasts after the event
How is it a conference about Blogging one of the most ‘web 2.0′ products on the web doesn’t have any consideration for podcasting, blogging, or vlogging?
Shocking and telling about the quality of BFI’s staff and event planners that they have one of the most expensive brand of water bottle on my table but no Wifi?
Anyway below is a picture from outside. I have more pictures and the fabulous talk that JP put on, so look here for more later today or tomorrow as I finally make time to upload this information.
Ping THIS!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Santosh 10.25.06 at 9:59 am
Some people/org doesn’t want to learn or change with times…
I think the following quote has been mentioned in many scriptures (with no intention to hurt anybody but to learn)
Quote from http://www.gurbani.org/webart51.htm
It is said that one can keep a dog’s tail in a straight tube and hold it there for as long as the dog lives. But it will curl as soon as you take it out of the tube! At one or other time in our lives, most of us probably heard this expression either from our parents, school teachers or others. This phenomenal world of names and forms is also like a dog’s tail: its nature is to curl!
Santosh 10.25.06 at 10:59 am
Some people/org doesn't want to learn or change with times…
I think the following quote has been mentioned in many scriptures (with no intention to hurt anybody but to learn)
Quote from http://www.gurbani.org/webart51.htm
It is said that one can keep a dog's tail in a straight tube and hold it there for as long as the dog lives. But it will curl as soon as you take it out of the tube! At one or other time in our lives, most of us probably heard this expression either from our parents, school teachers or others. This phenomenal world of names and forms is also like a dog's tail: its nature is to curl!