So wake up this morning - I mis-read Doc’s post and it takes the two Steves (Gillmor and Kirks) - to point out to me - YO DUDE, READ WHAT DOC SAID!

He said Non-unconference!

I got stuck in one of those - Doc is too smart for me to even grok what he says connundrums.  God aren’t we all glad for comments and the open, free spirit of the blogsphere.  And the fact that my boss won’t Dooce me for being stupid - this morning.

BTW Steve Gillmor WILL be at Etech - schmoozing about Attention - about the only real issue touched on - that I care about - at Etech.  Go Steve Go.

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So here’s the original post.  My bad - apologies to Doc and thanks to Steve and Steve.

Just like Doc likes to read Dave everyday - I have Doc’s blog as my #1 feed on myMyYahoo page - so his opening line kind of caught me this morning:

Heading to the first of two non-unconferences: eTech and SXSW. Gonna be on the road for way too long. (Ever since I started reading Dear Elena, I can hardly bear to be gone a day.)

I’m sorry dude - eTech ain’t no unconference.  Sure there’s some serious hallway action with the geeks (who fly in from around the world to kiss O’Reilly’s ring) and they ‘allow’ BoFs to form, but I can’t think of a conference that is more insider, exclusive, obnoxiously rude, insidery (did I say they’re all insiders?) than Etech.

In fact I think that if we look back on this bit of history - we’ll all agree that Etech set the tone and attitude of Web 2.0 more than any otehr exclusive affair.  It’s not that the invite is exclusive, it’s the agenda that I reel back from.

Their defintiion of what is ‘emerging’ is just - repulsive - IMHO.

Anyway - Doc also points to SXSW as an unconference - and that’s another kind-of-false statement.  It’s not that it’s anti-Doc morning (I love him BTW) it’s just that SXSW is about the most organized, together, HUGE,massive, HUGE affair I know of.  The set the litmus as to “hwo to run a massive affair and make it and KEEP it FUN!” 

The interactive portions of SXSW are dwarfed by the music scene - which is the music industry’s equivalent to Sundance.  Over 1,000 performances in 10 days, awards, keynote by Neil Young and Henry Rollins this year, etc. make SXSW THE scene to be seen at.  Meanwhile the Interactive aspects have Jason Kottke and Jason Fried (I call them the 2 Jasons) keynotning, along with Dooce!

So that ain’t no unconference by any stretch of the imagination - but it’s not a normal conference, and there won’t be no Phil Donahue walking around the audience picking up notes, questions and issues.

Anyway I love Doc, he’s back out on the road - and I ask him “maybe you should take your wife and kids to these shows sometime?  I do.”  Mimi, Lucy and Lisa will be in Austin with me with year and then we’re all going to Mix06 - as well.  That’s the only way I deal with leaving town as much as I do.

Now that show - Mix06 - will be a classic “Kiss Bill’s ring” kind of show.  Except - that’s not quite how I do it.  Just spell my name right sir.  Just spell the name right.

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So in other words - I was AGREEING with Doc - that Etech ain’t no unconference and neither is SXSW.  But I’m going to SXSW - cause the scene rocks - and sure hope Doc starts taking his family with him - so we can all hang out together more.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 5th, 2006 at 8:51 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.