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Are Tech Conferences Overrated? (cnn.com)
"The tech industry has reached a maximum saturation point for conferences, summits and forums," writes CNN's senior media reporter, sharing his general disillusionment after Recode's recent Code Conference:
But even at their best, these events fail to generate truly significant news because executives have been media-trained to the point of impenetrability... [S]peakers like Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek have mastered the art -- there should be a German word for it -- of speaking for 30+ minutes without saying much of consequence or going beyond their comfort zone... [I]n two days, nothing was said on stage that fundamentally changed the existing narrative for any of these companies... Business executives are more strategic and more cautious than ever in how they speak publicly. The business media needs to be equally strategic in pushing them to say more.
He argues that the best things about conferences happen offstage, when attendees network and talk among themselves. Is that your experience, Slashdot readers?
Share your own thoughts in the comments. Are tech conferences overrated?
He argues that the best things about conferences happen offstage, when attendees network and talk among themselves. Is that your experience, Slashdot readers?
Share your own thoughts in the comments. Are tech conferences overrated?
Personally (speaking only for myself) I do not attend conferences where there are going to be a lot of black people present. This is just my personal preference, and I certainly don't hate black people or bear them any ill will. To the contrary, I wish them success.
However, for many personal reasons I would rather not rub elbows with blacks. For one thing, black folks smell different than whites. It is sort of a a musky smell like damp wool and perhaps a little "acidic". Also black people tend to be loud and boisterous which distracts from the conference proceedings.
And because I'm a white woman, the colored boys all try to hit on me, which disgusts me frankly. I'm thankful that so few colored people are employed in the tech field. It's mostly whites, south Asians, and east Asians. These groups are fairly simpatico and get along well. And at conferences you can learn quite a bit from these groups. But rarely have I seen a colored guy contribute anything of interest or importance.
That's just the way it is. Does this make me a "bad" person? Of course not. There is no hate involved. It boils down to freedom of association. It is one woman's right to choose!.