UKNM: Conferences

[John Nugent]

Hi all,


I too attended the spooky Internet World graveyard, along with a couple of

the free conference keynotes thrown in by the organisers (once again my

theory that the more senior the presenter the less they appear to know what

they're talking about held true - all rather dull).


Having spoken at, and organised, a number of Internet conferences myself

it's my opinion that the lack of focus, thought and understanding

demonstrated at most of these events all stems from the individual

conference producers.


These professional producers invariably don't have the knowledge of the

market to pull together any sort of coherent, logical agenda - hardly

surprising when most don't have the industry background and are usually

trying to juggle two or three unrelated conferences at any one time.


So, they have a brainwave for a wonderful title such as:


'Branding on the Internet - the Future of the Information Superhighway'


...pull together an agenda that has every presenter talking (waffling)

about the same thing; contact every industry expert for a few hours free

consultancy on the subject; ignore most advice you give them; get you to

talk, and possibly run a half-day workshop, for free; and then they flog

the thing to anyone who has so little knowledge of the subject area that

they might actually find the conference appealing!


Of course, not all conferences are bad - just most!


If I got enough feedback from the esteemed members of this list I'd be

happy to put together a conference or seminar - for the industry, by the

industry - that we'd all find useful and interesting.


Any takers? :-)


On a separate point, IMHO the reason why online commerce in the UK (if that

makes sense?) is not as prolific as it could be is because there are so few

sites committed to selling anything! Boots winning the Web Retailer of the

Year Award when they weren't even selling anything online is just laughable. 


Three cheers for likes of Emap Online and the Internet Bookshop for leading

the way!


John Nugent			

Director			

The Digital Marketing Agency	


Email:

johnmarketing-agency [dot] com

Web: http://www.marketing-agency.com

Voice: 0468 893202

Post: Portland Mansions, Addison Bridge Place, London W14 8XL, UK.


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		'The World Wide Web is NOT a uniquely pervasive medium


			   like broadcast television.'


		     ACLU v Reno, US Supreme Court ruling, 1997


		       Web site marketing - 'pull not push'

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