Steve Rubel posts his thoughts about conferences banning blogging in response on an ongoing discussion at a few blogs: Dave Armano and Greg Verdino in particular.
I’m not a fan of secret/confidential/no-blogging conferences.. although from personal experience I can relate that being at a conference when things are being liveblogged can be a bit intimidating….
At BloggerCon 2004 at Harvard University, I remember being amazed that someone would have the courage to be a part of a panel discussion or standup in front of an audience of 100 or so knowing that at least half of that audience was liveblogging the event – and the other half of the room was participating in the IRC backchannel that was being displayed up on the overhead projector screen behind the presenter.
Intimidating or not, this did make for some interesting discussions – both in the “front channel”, or the actual discussions between the speaker(s) and the audience – in the IRC “back channel”, and in the blog world as well. Comments, trackbacks, and posts were abundant…
I guess I do see the point in a group like BuzzMetrics wanting to have a confidential client-only conference.. but for most industry conferences, I’m a huge proponent of liveblogging and wouldn’t want to see it – or the backchannel thought community that it represents go away…
