The Return Of Useless Expensive Conferences

Too Much Free Time

from the pay-thousands-of-dollars-to-hear-people-talk dept

About a year ago, I got annoyed at some of the pointless “big thinker” conferences that were showing up and wrote up a random essay about the conference I wanted to attend, which was basically playing off the idea that the only useful time at a conference was at lunch, when you actually got to talk to others. I also wanted to force people at the conference into seeing things from the side of people who opposed them, just to make the conversation a little more interesting. Unfortunately, it appears that, with the economy starting to comeback, conference organizers are pushing more of these useless “big thinker” conferences. Charles Cooper over at CNET is making a similar point to the one I made after getting invited to yet another of these pointless conferences that wants to charge a few thousand dollars (he doesn’t say, but the conference in question is Web 2.0). Basically, they’re putting the same people on stage and expecting everyone to pay thousands of dollars (though, to make this one even worse: it’s “invite only” – but you can request an invitation to pay $2,000, which seems particularly obnoxious) to listen to people say what you already know they’re going to say. As Cooper points out: “It is not long before at least half the attendees slip into the corridor, where the conversation is infinitely more interesting. Plus, there’s coffee.” All that for between $1,695 to $2,790. No thanks.