Just saw this over at Kottke's, who is offering hundreds of dollars off the entrance fee to the Pop!Tech conference. It's a conference in Camden, Maine, all about the 'impact of technology' on people's lives. There are a lot of speakers, mostly unknown media types, including numerous weblog authors.
Hundreds of dollars off the entry fee sounds like a great offer, if you'd imagine a fringe festival like this might cost a few hundred dollars to get in, at worst case. But, no, the conference is TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS. Some of those speakers must be demanding fat paychecks..
Posted by peter at September 8, 2003 10:49 AM | TrackBackI wonder if it's so high because the speakers are actually staying in pricey Boston digs, and driving up for the day.
Can't say I blame them. Pitchforks hurt, yo.
;-)
Posted by: bratrock at September 8, 2003 10:50 PMTwo things:
1) Re: "numerous weblog authors" and your general tone that suggests all around speaker suckiness... I count 4 people on the speakers list with active weblogs and only one (Xeni) that qualifies as someone who is known for blogging (and even that is debatable; she writes regularly for Wired). That doesn't qualify as numerous...and what's wrong with being a weblog author? As for "unknown media types", many on the list are scientists, inventors, writers, Ph. Ds, and successful business leaders. Many people on that list may not be famous to you, but have done important work in their fields (Lessig, Kunstler, DeMarco, Levin, Metcalfe, Wright, etc.).
2) The cost is high, but so is the caliber of the speakers. Similar conferences (TED, PC Forum) go for twice as much. Poptech is actually a not-for-profit conference...the organizers do it pro-bono and the entire registration fee goes to the speakers and for venue/food/etc.
Whether Poptech is worth the cost is something else entirely. Some think that paying anything for a conference is too much for what they get out of it (and I would agree for some conferences I've been to). For others, the conference experience is valuable enough to pony up a couple thousand. I've never been to Poptech before, but I'm going this year and will report back on if it was worth the price of admission.
Posted by: jkottke at September 9, 2003 04:00 PMI look forward to hearing about it. I remember the story looking at the 'outrage' of the $500 to get into Winer's BloggerCon.
Here's my main beef. This conference labels itself as looking at the impact of technology on people. It doesn't seem to pitch itself as an industry event. But at $2000 the 'people' feeling the 'impact of technology' can't really be there. Similar events, like PC Forum, are explicitly for the 'industry', and are beneficial to people in the biz.
In your position as a speaker on the digital lifestyle and technological issues, however, I imagine it will give you some food for thought, and I humbly tone down the nature of my cynicism one notch. :-) But the real people feeling the impact of technology? I doubt the event will blip on their radar.
Posted by: Coop at September 9, 2003 04:21 PMBut the real people feeling the impact of technology? I doubt the event will blip on their radar.
Yeah, that's certainly true. Hopefully allowing bloggers to write about the conference while it happens can lower the barrier of entry for those wanting to participate (albeit in a limited way).
Posted by: jkottke at September 9, 2003 11:28 PM