Let’s Get Together..A lot

Last night, I participated in a Canadian Public Relations Society panel, and it struck me that the high-tech sector is in the midst of a event renaissance. Whether it’s conferences, meet-ups, workshops, DemoCamps, BarCamps, panels, breakfast meetings or just drinks, there’s so much going on the time. In Toronto, for example, there’s three major conferences: ICE 07, mesh and WOM happening within the next three months. Then you’ve got the New Media Awards in late-May, StartUpCamp in June, and a bunch of other events in between.

It is a fascinating phenomena because conferences were all the rage during the dot-com boom. Flush with IPO or VC money, companies were more than happy to send their people to conferences, and spent big bucks to have elaborate booths at many shows – complete with booth babes and lots of free schwag. Then, the dot-com boom went bust and the conference industry took a huge hit as everyone hunkered down. One of the biggest victims was Comdex, which abruptly went poof after a long and successful run.

With the high-tech sector on a roll again, conferences/events are back. It’s like everyone spent too much time by themselves, and now they’re embracing every and any opportunity to get together to network, learn, schmooze, speak, listen, eat and drink. It’s like we were socially denied for so long that we’re trying to quickly make up for it now. Of course, most events tend to be low key and everyone – event organizers and attendees – are far more pragmatic about doing the scene. It explains why many conferences are reasonably-priced, and cash bars have replaced the free-for-alls that used to exist. What’s particularly interesting is the shock and horror when someone such as Powerset breaks out of the box with a dot-com-like party. It’s like they’re breaking the new rules of engagement.

Update: You can hear the CPRS panel discussion on the Inside PR podcast.
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