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Your Right to Participate at Conferences – but be accountable to the conference model

July 23rd, 2009

Nancy White is one of many outspoken and knowledgeable bloggers who writes about building and supporting online communities. In this video which I discovered via Robin Good, another outstanding participant/contributor to the social web, Nancy talks about the economic model used to run conferences and the “passive mind set” of so many of the people who attends these events.

I think she is right on with her comments about conference attendees who sit passively and lazily at conferences, unwilling to contribute to important conversations, more content to get their monies worth from the expert on the stage.

Nancy challenges people to participate more in conferences and place demand on conference organizers to build more opportunities for participation by attendees. The current model that keeps the expert on the podium and the uninformed in their seats is just not in step with the participatory values of the social web or conference participant’s wish for space to join the conversation.

It’s a great little video that invites us to unpack some of the conditioning we take into conferences. What thoughts did her message provoke in you?

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