gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

Well, some of the presentation are already available on the net, so people interested might have figured that it is easier to follow that.

For the people not in the UK, it is not so easy to get to Camebridge. ;))

Besides that - the brits really seem to be quite different to the rest of the world. I encounter this at the moment with Podcastcon UK; which _is_ called UK, most of the people coming are from the UK but still - there are European people coming too. And 'we' do see this more as an European event - but there is no way to get those brits to talk about it that way. It is just UK.

Combined with your remarks about them being snobbish (you did not call it that way, but ...), I am curious how it will go out. :)))

Funny folks on that island. ;)

3. lousy publicity. This is the first time I can recall hearing about the fardling event.

Since I read a goodly number of the various speakers blogs (including your good self :-) Maybe they should practice a little more of what they preach.

Hell, I'd have probably gone too. Too late now.

Be controversial, be entertaining, but please don't partonise Brits with sweeping statements...it may be amusing but it sure as hell pisses off folk (like me) who'd actually like to see this thing go forward.

I'd be there but for the fact that I'm heading for sunnier climes. I hope it goes well.
Patrick

Sure, Dennnis, you just tell me which point you disagree with and I'll gladly discuss it further ;-)

PS. What's wrong with making sweeping statements? Without it, there'd be no such thing as British comedy ;-)

Some people would have been put off by the inclusion of speakers from ecademy.

The getting up for an 8.30 start in Cambridge is certainly an issue... also it being on a weekday right after everyone has used up their holiday... But will be looking forward to the transcripts/audio/videos...

Getting British business folk out of London on a weekday is easy- all you need is some hunting, shooting and fishing ;-)

Cambridge is certainly a major factor for me, although for a lot of people (including those who live in cottages in Cumbria!) you travel down to Cambridge. There is life outside London, but it's about it being in Cambridge which is a pain to get to. Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, London - any of those places make sense.

Plus it's not aimed at "Brits", it's aimed at business people.

Look at the tag line "Enable Conversations with your customers".

So it's aimed at the poncey ponytail set, who don't know what 8:30 looks like because they're still getting over the coke enduced haze from the night before. You may be right when you say they have to move towards techiedom, but you're going to have to market geek chic better before that happens.

Ha. The poncy pony tail set embracing geek chic. As if that will ever happen.

More fun just watching them being consigned to the dustbin of history.

dont patronise brits?

this from dennis howlett, a man that can't bear to live in the UK because the weather is shit and the liquor is expensive.

give over mr howlett - you aren't a Brit any more, you're a European...

my reason for probably not coming is pretty simple. the list is same old same old. i know the thinking of the headliners. i might come to see them perform live, but i already have the album...

Barry what a large gaping void there is! In my past life of running a UK based business I would never have associated, business people = poncey ponytail set.
I guess its what happens when you cut yourself off in Soho.

For true hilarity, read this interview with Saatchi & Saatchi's UK chairman/CEO Lee Daley on the "future" of advertising. It contains more meaningless buzzwords per square inch than maybe anything I've read--and NOTHING about how technology lets marketers l-i-s-t-e-n to and converse with customers.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/08/26/lee.daley.transcript/

I run a funded business in the RSS sector in the UK and I'm not going for a number of reasons.

it's down South and I can't be arsed, I'm too busy working on cool stuff to go, and the content sounds painfully dull .. does anyone who knows their arse from their elbow need a "brief history of blogging" or "how marketeers are going to have to act more like techies"? These are topics for newbies and marketeers rather than techies or people on the cutting edge.

The problem is, the people reading blogs like yours ARE the techies, industry geeks, and people on the cutting edge. This conference is clearly for people who have no idea about the topic or have heard "a little" about it. That's the problem with conferences.. they're not for the hardcore. Up with geek dinners instead.

While history of blogging seems dull at first, it was quite a presentation to listen to and Ben is fun to watch. You could give it a listen through the reboot recordings of that special session.

I can't answer the question if you are intersted in the social impacts of daily internet life, but the question put up by that single presentation still "haunt" me two months later.

I did post a number of perfectly valid reasons why this is not such a great idea at http://www.bazaarz.com/archives/2005/08/our_social_worl.php. And the fact I live offshore wouldn't stop me coming...if the content was compelling enough. And it isn't.

I don't go for the content, Dennis. I go to meet people.

(A) It's a lot of fun and (B) a lot of business is starting to get done at these things. At least for me.

You can meet people at the geek dinners and other less formal events. I meet people by networking with them online and then moving it offline. The extra cost of these bigger conferences is going into the presentation and delivery of content, so I'd say it's a pretty big part of the larger conferences. If it was all about meeting people, there'd be a lot more geek dinners and the like :) The most productive extra curricular activity I went to was a "conference" in a pub(!) full of SEO experts ;-)

Hugh - I'm in Cambridge and it sounds quite interesting but:

1 - it's on a weekday and I don't have much holiday left
2 - it's £100 + VAT

Have you thought about doing a parallel geek dinner that's open to all after the conference. There are some decent places to eat in Cambridge and no shortage of geeks and bloggers (I have a short list here)

I can probably help get it off the ground if you think it's a good idea.

If you're considered a 'corporate', the fee is £250+VAT. Somehow, this is how much I've been billed... and I'm about as far away from 'corporate' as you can get!

I'd pay that amount to spend a full day listening to Hugh, but I'm not sure about some of the other folks. I have some thinking to do...

All the best,

--
Ian

Suddenly I'm considered an 'individual'. Never a truer word said.

Hugh, see you there - I'm looking forward to it.

All the best,

--
Ian

Looking forward to going. I believe the real value of this is networking and to that end I am also looking forward to meeting Hugh in the flesh. Not to mention I am also interested in his talk and most people consider me at least part geek.