Quote:
Originally posted by gonzo@Nov 7 2003, 08:17 AM
Ok but seriously...
I attended those shows in Atlanta. Both as a webmaster and one as the front man for a sponsor. I can see both sides of the issues.
Really I think the problems that the sponsors ran into at those shows...at least in the end were
1. Keynote presentations that turn out to be sponsors pimping their programs without any substance [and what was running out of Rocki's nose doesnt count] is eventually insulting by the end of the day.
2. When you have a show and the person in charge cant get out of bed to open the doors...thats certainly not a preofessional image.
Both of which I blew off until I found out that an ad ran locally advertising the event as an infomercial "get Rich Quick and become an adult webmaster'.
Reminds me of the workshop I stumbled into in Florida. A room filled with people in business attire and laptops taking notes. The best part was when one of the chicks on the panel was telling the notetakers they need to filter out all the overseas traffic and just get rid of it....dump it over to yahoo or something.
Now thats a real industry pro eh Kath?
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Gonzo - you make some good points. But you are referring to the events BEFORE they became organized and AFTER things went bad.
It's true - the first AWE I ever attended was the very first LA show. There was a sign-up sheet for sponsors with 15-minute windows of time to SPAM the living sh** out of the attendees. Those spam-fests and a legal speaker (Obenberger, I'm thinking) made up the entire "schedule" of workshop/seminar events.
After that I became involved... Atlanta was the first show with organized speakers - true, some still spammed out of habit from the first few shows - but they soon got whipped into shape and the workshops were very helpful to many attendees - some of whom are still very active in the biz today because of those events. Portland was an excellent venue, surprisingly enough. We had several speakers - who also speak @ the Internext events today - that provided lots of great info to our attendees. There were several shows there where everything just "clicked" - there was so much potential... it was a shame to see it end up like it did.
But there HAS TO BE continuous organization for an event like this to work - Fay can attest to this I'm sure after all her years of work in this area. If the team who is working these shows isn't on the same page, isn't getting the support from the sponsors, isn't staying in CONTROL of the situation - it can go to shit quickly. Just dealing with these assholes who run the hotels/convention centers is a headache and a half.
Fay's ideas for San Diego are hitting the nail on the head IMHO... from what she's posting here she has all the essential elements in place - and is even adding a few unexpected perks in the process that will raise the bar a few notches. I'm really looking forward to this event - as I am with the Phoenix Forum... I really feel that these types of gatherings are making the BEST impact on the webmastering community at this stage in the game.