Comments on: Your Conference Experience Is Your Responsibility http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/your-conference-experience-is-your-responsibility-2.html Canada's Search and Social Media Authority Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:01:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Carri Bugbee http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/your-conference-experience-is-your-responsibility-2.html#comment-21903 Carri Bugbee Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:25:26 +0000 http://www.searchenginepeople.com/?p=5863#comment-21903 Todd, as you know, I thought Searchfest really stepped it up this year. I learned a lot in the SEO/PPC tracks because that’s not my primary business focus. I learned less in the social media track because that is my primary business focus (plus, I teach a university class in social media marketing), so I do daily research to stay ahead of the curve in that arena. After speaking at 15+ conferences and events in the past year, I’ve developed a very different perspective about speaker presentations than the blog post you referenced. I want LESS crowd-sourcing and more stringent vetting of speakers. I like smaller panels and less ad hoc content. I’ve become bored with un-conferences and panels that don’t include well-honed presentations. I think the crowd-sourced panels that comprise the bulk of the content at SXSW are mostly lame. The topics that get picked seem like good ideas, but the execution often falls flat because most people aren’t that good at presenting and/or don’t put in the time to analyze and prepare valuable insights (assembling a good preso is VERY time-consuming). Truth be told, I’ve even been on a couple of lame panels myself, but it wasn’t my role to organize them, so there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I realize it will take a much higher level of content to surprise and engage me than it will for people who don’t spend many hours a week staying up on the latest. But that doesn't mean the bulk of attendees won't glean an enormous amount of value from the event. As I mentioned in my Searchfest wrap-up post for Aimclear (http://bit.ly/sfwrap), I’d like to see conferences start offering more beginning and advanced tracks. But even with the content panel I referenced in that post, someone else told me how helpful that panel was to them. And I'm well aware how hard it is to gauge attendance or interest in topics when people don’t even register that far in advance. It might not even be possible. Producing an event of this size is not an easy job. Doing it with an all-volunteer team can be utterly exhausting – for no pay. I think you guys did a great job and I look forward to next year’s event. @CarriBugbee Social Profiles: www.CarriBugbee.com Todd, as you know, I thought Searchfest really stepped it up this year. I learned a lot in the SEO/PPC tracks because that’s not my primary business focus. I learned less in the social media track because that is my primary business focus (plus, I teach a university class in social media marketing), so I do daily research to stay ahead of the curve in that arena.

After speaking at 15+ conferences and events in the past year, I’ve developed a very different perspective about speaker presentations than the blog post you referenced. I want LESS crowd-sourcing and more stringent vetting of speakers. I like smaller panels and less ad hoc content. I’ve become bored with un-conferences and panels that don’t include well-honed presentations.

I think the crowd-sourced panels that comprise the bulk of the content at SXSW are mostly lame. The topics that get picked seem like good ideas, but the execution often falls flat because most people aren’t that good at presenting and/or don’t put in the time to analyze and prepare valuable insights (assembling a good preso is VERY time-consuming). Truth be told, I’ve even been on a couple of lame panels myself, but it wasn’t my role to organize them, so there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

I realize it will take a much higher level of content to surprise and engage me than it will for people who don’t spend many hours a week staying up on the latest. But that doesn't mean the bulk of attendees won't glean an enormous amount of value from the event.

As I mentioned in my Searchfest wrap-up post for Aimclear (http://bit.ly/sfwrap), I’d like to see conferences start offering more beginning and advanced tracks. But even with the content panel I referenced in that post, someone else told me how helpful that panel was to them. And I'm well aware how hard it is to gauge attendance or interest in topics when people don’t even register that far in advance. It might not even be possible.

Producing an event of this size is not an easy job. Doing it with an all-volunteer team can be utterly exhausting – for no pay. I think you guys did a great job and I look forward to next year’s event.

@CarriBugbee
Social Profiles: http://www.CarriBugbee.com

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