Conferences fulfil two needs one networking and meeting peers and secondly to gleam information of what is happening in the market. The need to understand the market and seek examples of best practice and benchmarks is very important when the market or subject is in a changing and volatile state and it is understandable that we see a mass of digital conferences at this time of change.
That silly time has come around again when a certain major conference event’s organisers are requesting presentation submissions for the end of the year. Last year we offered an outline and said it was difficult to give more details 6 months ahead of the date. We were obviously rejected and looked with some amazement as the usual speakers and sponsors secured slots.
Conference organisers should actually do their homework and research the best speakers and topics themselves and not merely scatter seeds around in hope or asks sponsors to subliminally advertise. There are many great stories to be told that sadly remain untold.
The ironic statement is that the conference calling notes even state that these are highly volatile and rapidly changing times and that ‘2008 is proving to be a year of unprecedented uncertainty’ so the logic is that much may have changed in six months!
Other than a high level synopsis of our presentations, we rarely write any detail more than one month before speaking and often it is one week before. Some may say that is too short a period but we like to keep it fresh.
The other conferences we have strong opinions on are those where you are asked to sponsor, are then graded according to the wedge you deposit and are given speaking slots on top. This would not be bad if the delegates were admitted free, or at minimal cost but they then charge the delegates top ticket too.
