Unconferences
I am quite skeptical about industry conferences and the return on your investment of time and dollars. I would not be surprised if people find it a important component of their own networking activities, or if they can get a few gems from the presenters, who at least in theory an expert on subject matters.
Personally though, on the very few ocassions that I have been lured, I ended up with the feeling that I just got sold “stuff”, that i did not manage to talk to all the people I should have, or that I was on the main passively listening as opposed to contributing beyond question time. Obviously, it’s the absolute pits if you got nothing new to take in or if the presentations are amateurish/dumb.
I briefly heard about the Talent Unconference a few weeks back, maybe last year, and I thought this is just another grab line from the yanks who want to sell something to someone. I got to read more about it in the aftermath, and it seems that philosophically and in practical terms it was more an organized chaos or brainstorming sessions loosely threaded by a drive to treat the topic of Talent in a strategic, innovative, two-way-teach-and-learn long-term way.
Maybe I am biased because i am exposed to the work of some of the more well known attendees in the list, so I speculate that the discussions were rich and substantial, although not without their share self-criticism, reflection and name calling on what went not so great. which is different
Though it seemed to have been a great intellectual exercise, to me the jury is still out in terms of what i would the event’s practical, longer term benefits are, namely
- How is the knowledge disseminated and get input to the non-attendees, ie you and me (maybe the organiser or team leaders to get something out?)
- How does these ideas get built up on for subsequent activities (new businesses being formed, or the next event), etc.
I’ll keep and eye out; you can check for yourselves too.