At this weekend’s Clash of the Ego Titans between Dave Winer and Jason Calacanis at Gnomedex 2007, the back channel was used along with an unfortunately atypical Wineresq outbreak. Had I been in town and at the computer, I would likely have been in the back channel following the more interesting conversation.

Back channels are among the best place to be during conferences
Especially if you drop down $$$ for a conference, don’t miss the back channel. That’s where you can make some great connections with others at the conference. Bring your own internet connection too because most times the internet at conferences sucks.

It’s in the back channel that you tap the true thoughts going through people’s heads at the conference and it’s these conversations that should be pursued more openly during the conference if we’re truly facing some new version of conferences. The fact is we’re not though, most conferences are locked in the same worn-out format of speaker, presentation, listen, Q&A, perhaps mix in a panel or two. Back in March I shared ideas for a better conference and remain hopeful we’ll see more conferences embracing these types of things. You have suggestions for what makes a better conference?

Calacanis vs. Winer
The drama this time was over Calacanis “spamming” the conference with his Mahalo search engine. If anybody thinks having Jason Calacanis speak at any conference isn’t likely to be an advertorial for what he’s currently doing they’ve fallen asleep in History class. Note to ConvergeSouth attendees, here’s your precursor. Look, Calacanis is a professional marketer. Love him, hate him, whatever, but see the leopard’s spots.

As for Dave Winer? Why people focus on how and when he says things more than what he says is a bit surprising considering he often makes good points. I know why, we’re human beings and we don’t like to be hurt. Dave was simply being the voice of the back channel. Where were the other conference attendees active in the backchannel complaining about Calacanis? What’s wrong with using their pipes?

I’m sure someone will give the answer that it’s rude to challenge somebody speaking. I get that, but there are ways to challenge without shouting or being rude, aren’t there? I understand those who say that Winer doesn’t seem to understand this and maybe he’ll take that from this experience. Doubtful again with history as a guide.

However, there is also the perspective that people paid money to listen to an advertorial. If you drop $500 + related expenses and have to endure a commercial, somebody needs to be brave enough to say something. Somebody needs to stand up and ask the difficult questions and perhaps even make the audience a bit uncomfortable. What others might call a pattern of behavior with Winer might instead be seen evidence of calling a spade a spade. Courage to stand up while others cower in the back channel and the hallway.

Is challenging a speaker wrong?
Whether it’s foolhardy or foolish to challenge a speaker at a conference on something the back channel is discussing is a much more interesting discussion going than yet another ego clash. Remember Ben Metcaffe challenging Mena Trott on civility? Ben was grinding in the back channel when Mena called him out. He stood up and the audience by and large seemed to have applauded his bravery.

Sadly, too many times good topics descend into being about ego clashes rather than the more important issues found in the back channels of these conferences. Eric Rice falls into the same trap:

Guys, I like y’all. I understand ego, trust me. You’ve all done a lot of stuff in your day, and you’ll continue to have stuff to pitch. Sometimes the key to winning the game is just knowing when to get the fuck over yourselves.

Eric, come on, you’re a better thinker than that. Write another post and answer the questions Dave raised in your own comment section. Somebody should have asked Guy Kawasaki about Bitpass.

At the end of the day, I think it’s amusing that Jason Calacanis couldn’t even spell the conference name correctly he was speaking at. It’s Gnomedex, Jason. Fortunately, Chris Pirillo was smart enough to buy the typo domain.

Now that’s marketing, webmasters, pay attention.

Did this post make you go hmm?

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