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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4 Comments
Hi Evan…the panel discussion was very interesting. It’s very funny how blogs came up in my face all at once this week. The day before I was in a Ryerson class where a speaker came in to talk about different blogs and blog monitoring sites, and then yesterday was the CPRS thing. I definitely have a new view on this and will be looking out for other opportunities to learn about this. Would love to go to mesh but I’m not sure if I can take the time off or spend the money (mine or my employers). We shall see.
The bars at these things used to be open? Man, no wonder they had to charge 8 bucks for a beer last night. Great job last night, Mark. You never pull any punches when talking about how PR people work, and it’s refreshing to hear someone tell the truth and call us on our shortcomings.
Hey there Mark… I am loving the idea of the return of the “conferences” especially with the new, collaborative spin. My struggle? Trying to keep track of all the dates and nights and un-pubbing…
I always find out about adventures on the day that they are occuring. Suggestions? Secret nifty GTA calendar of all things interesting?
cheers,
jules
I travel allot for conferences mostly the US I hit Europe/South America 1 time a year and I was in burn out mode last quarter, too many familiar faces it becomes like a circuit of sorts.
I’m stoked that there are some local shows coming up and Mesh is a must for me. After this weather we have been having my trip to Phoenix at the end of the month can’t come soon enough.
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[...] After a chat about high-definition TV channels, we end Talking Tech with some discussion about the growing number of high-tech events happening – conferences, meet-ups, DemoCamps, etc. – and whether this means we’re in the midst of a dot-com boom again. It’s something I posted on recently. Talking Tech [16:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download podPressPlayerToLoad(‘podPressPlayerSpace_2148′, ‘mp3Player_2148_0′, ‘300:30′, ‘http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.libsyn.com%2Fmedia%2Fbuckpost%2FTalking_Tech_070309.mp3′); Share This « How to Lose…and Find Your Laptop [...]
[...] Given we’re in the midst of a conference/event renaissance, there’s no lack of choices as long as you’ve got the time, money and energy. So, if you had all of those in spades, what conferences would you attend? To start, I’d go to mesh but, then again, I have to be there because I’m one of the co-organizers. And I’d also put SXSW on my wish-list because it’s so multi-dimensional (music, Web, film) and it would give me a chance to explore the southwest U.S. For a little European flavour, I’d have to go to LIFT (the inspiration for mesh) in Switzerland (If all goes according to plan, the mesh gang will be going next year) and, of course, Les Blogs in Paris (my wife would suddenly develop a keen interest in the Web just in time for the conference, I suspect). The last must-do conference would be TED to immerse myself in big brains and big ideas. [...]