Observations on the Conference Season: A Short Guide for the Uninitiated
Since I’m getting ready to travel to Denver for a convention/conference next week, it seemed only fitting that I should repost this.
Flights are filled these days with workers heading to industry conferences. As a public service to you first-time conference-goers, and as a refresher for those who have been unable to attend in recent years, what follows is a rundown of what you are likely to encounter.
Brainiac Futurist. Typically a keynote speaker, the Brainiac Futurist (or BF), proclaims that “everything has changed.” He or she is a high priest of the digerati. Their holy book is a small device of silicon and metal, encased in plastic. All that emanates from the holy book is revealed truth. The world is flat—or “horizontal”—and you need to “get it.” Some in the audience will be hypnotized by this astounding insight and become practicing disciples of the new creed. Though the BF is an industry intellectual, the smartest person in the grand ballroom, BF is incapable of recognizing the mental straightjacket of…
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