Even though we have these amazing, 24/7 ubiquitous connections taking place on the social web, IRL (in real life) conferences are still booming. I think that many of us still long for those face to face connections, even more so now that our networks have blown way past the indications of Dunbar’s number. He he.
This is an opinion piece about things I see happening in the social media space, in short Twitter-sized sound bytes. I am imposing that limit on myself as I am short on time today.
With #podcamphawaii & #socialmediaclub we have open tents, everybody’s welcome. (My preference) Attendance is great. Experiences are powerful. Learning is all over the map.
Other events, when “who is welcome” is changing weekly, when “must request an invite” is the rule? Not so cool. (Especially when no reply is then sent.) Ticket sales are s-l-o-w. Is there a connection?
If you want a private event, by all means have at it. You better have a killer list though and enough personal energy to draw in attendees. The Lobby understands this.
I don’t recommend teasing the public to try to get your buzz on when signups to your private event are not happening. Just open it up and the people will come!
When people are vying for attention and excluding peers, IMO that is so #highschool and #oldschool. We’re due for a major shift in thinking in this arena IMO.
Perfectly reasonable people disagree. That is the good news. When it’s your event, you can do what you want.
I hope these points help you figure out which strategy is more fun and less stress for planning your next event!
Aloha,
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
@christinelu I would love to discuss the pros and cons of open vs closed events and how to manage them. Seems like this would be a great topic for an upcoming meeting of the Social Media Club Hawaii. I think both have their purpose, it’s just tricky IMO to do closed events using the very public open media.
A related topic is pricing. With all these affiliate programs and “secret” invites, some people pay far more than others for the same event. From the organizers’ point of view people do what they do to get “butts in seats” – often to satisfy promises made to sponsors. OTOH, no one likes sitting on a plane and learning one’s seat mate paid half price or less. Surely we can improve on this!
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