New Header dedicated to the spirit of boring conferences and panels
I have been going to technical conferences since 1980.
There are good panels and bad. Boring speakers and exciting conversations.
Even Gnomedex and Bloggercon had boring sessions.
My body is the ultimate judge. I have been known to wake up a crowd, keep a flame burning and tell it like it is. Sleep is the ultimate statement of “what’s up”. Or not - as the case may be.
July 8th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Your headstone.
Here lies Mark. He could sleep through anything.
July 8th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Marc once said about conferences, as soon as the lights go down everyone goes to sleep.
That was his review of PowerPoint (and my own presentation software).
He was right. I nod off at conferences too. My solution — I don’t waste my time by going to them anymore. If they can’t find a way to use my brain, they don’t get my time.
Anyway, I love those pictures. All the assholes who say nasty shit about other people should learn the lesson from Marc. Self-deprecating humor is funny. Nasty shit about other people is powerless. You da man Marc.
July 8th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
(First time I publish that URL … under _heavy_ construction)
Someone I know *cough* got a great snapshot of Pema Chodron at a uhhhhhhh inter-faith congress/conference. heh … was reminded of that when I saw your cherubic face. Gotta luv folk in the Buddha family! (I’m karma … horse in chinese … taurus in european.)
Sleepin’ with the angels is the finest remunaration this mortal has every gotten!
July 8th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
I think it has less to do with the sessions, and more to do with the amount of left-handed cigarettes one might enjoy.
July 9th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
Once again I agree with Dave Winer here - why do people bother with embracing a shit on other people attitude as a means of trying to make oneself look better by making someone else look worse. It is just like the old childhood saying come to life - repeat after me “I am rubber, your glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.” We need to elevate our level of public (and private) discourse - we need to embody the behaviours we want to see from the rest of the world.
We also, apparently, need more sleep - thanks to Marc for keeping that flame burning bright for us all to remember. I can not remember who exactly said it, but during the hayday of the late 90’s one of the most insightful things i heard was a startup CEO who told me that he judged his personal sucess by the amount of sleep he got each night.
No gathering is immune from becoming a snooze fest unless the format demands participation and the facilitators can engage everyone present - this is why I still think that the focus of discussion leaders needs to be on asking powerful questions and keeping the conversational flow moving in the right direction.
July 9th, 2006 at 8:16 pm
[...] Chris Heuer: “No gathering is immune from becoming a snooze fest unless the format demands participation and the facilitators can engage everyone present.” [...]
July 9th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
[...] Chris Heuer: “No gathering is immune from becoming a snooze fest unless the format demands participation and the facilitators can engage everyone present.” [...]
July 9th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
Sleep is important, especially at a GnomeDex where the WiFi gets overwhelmed so you end up working at night when you can log on and getting mission-critical stuff done, and when that happens really late because of late-night social events, and the conference starts early, then an afternoon nap during slower sessions is just the thing.
July 10th, 2006 at 7:33 am
Still say you should check up that you don’t have sleep apneia. Dangerous condition.
July 10th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Gosh Chris, Didn’t you hear that cigarettes are bad for you? The good ones are called doobies doncha know - sheesh.
July 10th, 2006 at 11:32 am
Of course, Marc is a powerhouse, and seems to work pretty much 24/7, and I happen to know he was up late the night before hosting an awesome “after-hours” party. “Sinister doobies” or not, I’m sure he needed a little rest. And yes, Marc can make fun of himself, and people who give him shit are just shit-talkers. Praise be to Jah!