Comments on: Why conferences suck

By: Ben Chun

Ben Chun — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:10:24 +0000

One way to break this down from inside, as a presenter, is to modify your presentation slides on the fly as you are giving your talk. Ask the audience for input, even ask them to — ahem — confer with each other for a few minutes before providing that input. I did this during a recent talk and it was great. I typed items into a list on a slide as people said them, hit shift-f5, and then went through the items. It’s a balance between throwing a bunch of smart people in a room with zero structure versus making those people sit and listen without interacting. The sweet spot is in the middle, where the presenter is pushing something forward and the audience is helping and engaging.

Good luck with the filter. Let me know if you get that working.

By: Howard

Howard — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:17:16 +0000

Would love to participate in putting something like that together!

By: Larry

Larry — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:43:02 +0000

I was there too and had very much the same reaction.

It got me thinking about a format more like a dinner party: invite a smaller group, like 10-15 people, eat some charcuterie, drink some beers and have some conversations. Maybe a little show-and-tell. Mix up the invite list and have people filter in and out over time.

By: Dangermarc

Dangermarc — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:21:48 +0000

I think you should organize it. It’s exactly the kind of thing you do: show ‘em how it’s done.

By: Casey

Casey — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:27:28 +0000

Hey there,

Sounds like you want to come to a DevHouse! Most of it’s hacking, but there’s cool stuff like Lightning Talks, where you get 5 minutes to talk about something, and then everyone gets to talk to you afterward about it all.

Some pretty epic stuff has come out of these things, so if you’re ever in town for one, you should stop by, and conversate. : )

By: Nuzi

Nuzi — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:56:21 +0000

“I want someone to organize an event that is really about conversation. I want to be sitting at a round table with the attendees, and given a problem to solve or a topic to pursue. I want a creative matchmaker to filter out the idiots and make groups of people that will blow each others minds.”

That is interesting…it sounds like you were talking about Project M!

By: josh kamler

josh kamler — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:57:20 +0000

Nuzi:
Nah. Project M isn’t really like that.
It’s a young design student’s first inkling that maybe design isn’t just about making something pretty.

By: Nuzi

Nuzi — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:59:57 +0000

I know. Project M’s point was not about conversation…but Project M would not be what it is if were not for the many different interactions and “blowing my mind away” conversations between everyone. what I think is interesting about what you said is how it sounded similar to my experience at M…from my perspective.