Hey, it's Friday so time for another podcast. I was hoping to use some cool intro music from Penmachine but still need to learn more about Propoganda. In any event, here's an outline of today's podcast:
0:00 to 0:45.....Intro
0:45 to 4:45.....Google's first-quarter results, stock performance
4: 45 to 6:45....Is this another tech boom?
6:45 to 9:30.....Why is Corel going public again; what does Vonage's stalled IPO suggest?
9:30 to 11:45...The end of the VHS tape?

Note: The sound quality isn't perfect. Turns out, I'm using a bad microphone. That will be fixed by next week's show. By the way, the podcast feed can be found here.

There's a bit of a chatter today in the blogosphere on the conference vs. the unconference. Mathew Ingram has an intriguing post on whether there is a perfect kind of conference in response to Euan Semple's mini-rant about "money-spinning" conference organizers. It got me thinking about my own definition of the perfect conference (full disclosure: I'm part of the group organizing next month's mesh conference in Toronto). So, here goes:
In an ideal world, the perfect conference would have:
- Keynotes who have something to say rather than something to sell. Give me ideas, challenge my thinking, have a conversation with me rather than broadcasting at me, tell me something I haven't heard countless times before; do it a creative, out-of-the-box way.
- No PowerPoint presentations. Apologies to the fine folks at Microsoft and all those PowerPoint wizards out there but PowerPoint decks are boring. How did it "evolve" that a PowerPoint presentation became mandatory conference tools (weapons?!). I was a panelist at a conference recently in which the person who presented before me came with a 35-slide deck that she fast-forwarded through. Yet, her approval rating was higher than mine because I simply talked and made fun of the fact I didn't have a PowerPoint presentation. That struck me as bizarre. Just because conference-goers expect a PowerPoint presentation (much like they expect muffins and rubber chicken) doesn't mean it's right.
- More time for Q&A. Give people the opportunity to ask the questions that moderators are unwilling or afraid to ask.
- More networking/blogging breaks. Forget about drinking gallons of coffee to counter the numbing affects of yet another dull keynote or panel. Get people talking with each other, and talking with the outside world about new ideas, etc.
- No ties between sponsorship and keynote/panelist appearances. Many conferences are created to make money but offering keynotes and panelist spots in return for sponsorship serves the needs of the sponsors and conferences organizers rather than the people attending the conference. In many cases, keynotes and panels are hidden sales pitches rather than things that inspire ideas and engage people in conversation.
- More fruit, juice; less coffee, muffins, cookies: Who says going to a conference means you have gain five pounds. It's bad enough people go out for dinner and drinks at night. Forcing them to also eat crappy food during the day is punishment.
- Ubiquitious Wi-Fi: make it available, make it free, make it robust. This is as much an issue for facility operators as conference organizers.

Thoughts? What do you want/expect from a conference? Why have "nonconferences" gained so much buzz?

Well, who da thunk it? Tech is back, baby!
Google shares soar more than $30 in after-hours trading yesterday after the company posts stellar first-quarter results; Nasdaq hits a 52-week high and moves in territory it hasn't seen in more than five years; and Fortune magazine has a story on how to be "smart" about investing in the new "Net boom". Perhaps the real sign of a tech comeback - at least in Canada - will come when Nortel becomes the subject of animated dinner party conversations again. It is also fascinating that some of the money now flowing into tech stocks is coming from investors who have done well from the oil and gas boom. Even with oil trading close to $70 a barrel,  some investors are looking to cash out when the going is good - and tech, in comparison, looks pretty cheap.