Comments on: Open Letter to @dahowlett… Customers at #e20conf? http://itsinsider.com/2009/06/25/open-letter-to-dahowlett-customers-at-e20conf/ An Insider's view on IT-Social for the Enterprise Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:44:07 +0000 hourly 1 By: Daniel J. Pritchett http://itsinsider.com/2009/06/25/open-letter-to-dahowlett-customers-at-e20conf/#comment-726 Daniel J. Pritchett Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:11:17 +0000 http://itsinsider.com/?p=789#comment-726 I'm not sure that destination conferences (i.e. fly to Boston, pay for a week's stay) are the way to go right now, whether we're talking about the enterprise collaboration community or just tech in general. The people Dennis really wants to hear from probably aren't getting budget approval to fly to so-called "vendor sponsored conferences" anyway. We've got 3 or 4 FTEs devoted to Sharepoint here at my Fortune 100 employer but I don't know that we've really got any official investment in conferences. I get my engagement from local events (BarCamp, Social Media Breakfast, etc.) and from free online resources like Twitter and Friendfeed and some well-written blogs. I'm glad both of you are passionate enough to keep filling my readers with E2.0 content by the way. Keep it up! I’m not sure that destination conferences (i.e. fly to Boston, pay for a week’s stay) are the way to go right now, whether we’re talking about the enterprise collaboration community or just tech in general.

The people Dennis really wants to hear from probably aren’t getting budget approval to fly to so-called “vendor sponsored conferences” anyway. We’ve got 3 or 4 FTEs devoted to Sharepoint here at my Fortune 100 employer but I don’t know that we’ve really got any official investment in conferences.

I get my engagement from local events (BarCamp, Social Media Breakfast, etc.) and from free online resources like Twitter and Friendfeed and some well-written blogs.

I’m glad both of you are passionate enough to keep filling my readers with E2.0 content by the way. Keep it up!

]]> By: Dennis Howlett http://itsinsider.com/2009/06/25/open-letter-to-dahowlett-customers-at-e20conf/#comment-721 Dennis Howlett Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:18:58 +0000 http://itsinsider.com/?p=789#comment-721 Thanks for that Susan - reality is that I am going to very few vendor sponsored conferences. Almost nothing of interest. It is quickly becoming obvious the model is utterly broken. Much of what I heard via Twitter etc was a re-hash of last year, mostly vendor led, with nothing outstanding (except perhaps details on BAH which even then were lacking.) Until 'we' get past the old war stories (which I heard again - yawn) then this remains a pimp's playground. I'd be much more impressed to hear users Twittering their stories - as example. I'm not sure that saying 'falling over customers' is a good metric when I saw half empty halls from images posted. As far as I can tell, the focus is on culture but then this is something I've argued for YEARS. I know maybe a handful or two of people who really understand the issues because they are social scientists, not product evangelists. Glad it's given you a good thought for a business model. Thanks for that Susan – reality is that I am going to very few vendor sponsored conferences. Almost nothing of interest. It is quickly becoming obvious the model is utterly broken.

Much of what I heard via Twitter etc was a re-hash of last year, mostly vendor led, with nothing outstanding (except perhaps details on BAH which even then were lacking.) Until ‘we’ get past the old war stories (which I heard again – yawn) then this remains a pimp’s playground.

I’d be much more impressed to hear users Twittering their stories – as example.

I’m not sure that saying ‘falling over customers’ is a good metric when I saw half empty halls from images posted.

As far as I can tell, the focus is on culture but then this is something I’ve argued for YEARS. I know maybe a handful or two of people who really understand the issues because they are social scientists, not product evangelists.

Glad it’s given you a good thought for a business model.

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