Your probably scratching your head a little and wondering why this headline is being included in Geek News Central. Have you ever been someplace and needed to scratch a part of your body that you can’t because of the company your with. Well I have been sitting back for a couple of months now squirming in my chair refraining from scratching an itch. Well it needs scratching and I am going to get up on my soap box and scratch for a few minutes.
BloggerCon is the brain child of Dave Winer of which I have no personal beef with, I read Dave’s site every couple of days and enjoy his content. I was curious about the talk about BloggerCon when I originally heard the word BloggerCon I thought it might be kinda cool to go to a conference of Bloggers do a little networking and possibly acquire alliances with companies etc.
As I investigated it a bit more I discovered that BloggerCon was by Invitation only. This immediately set-off my what the fuck meter. It immediately smelled like I am having a party and only those I consider worthy may attend. Then to add insult to injury those that are getting invited are being asked to pay $500.00 per head for something that is just bringing people together and being able to listen to the philosophy of other bloggers. Maybe I have this thing all wrong but that price seems like highway robbery.
So here is my conspiracy you invite some that you know will balk at the price and not attend and yet the elite group that does show up and pay up have weeded out the rift raft. I hate the word Elitist but this thing stinks like elitism.
I am sure the panel will be professional and the conversation stimulating but it has that East Coast Preepy spin to it that would most certainly make me puke.
The world famous Chris Pirillio who runs the Lockergnome just completed the third annual Gnomedex with 2 days of exceptional informational sessions for under a $100.00 talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck. The content was great the fellowship was even better. If I had not been between travel I would have went. I think Chris had more influential Bloggers there than any conference thus far. Best yet you did not have to be on a invitation only list.
If you are going to have a Blogger Conference/Convention you make it open to all and you price it so that ordinary people can attend. Most of us that are out here blogging about life, technology, ourselves and topics from A to Z are regular Joe’s and Jane’s that are busting our asses raising kids, dealing with life and working hard to have successful and well read weblog.
I have a proposal and I need some people to work with me. If you want to have a real Blogger Conference/Convention let’s do one that is cheap and can be attended by the masses. Get all the major companies there as sponsors and have a real conference. E-mail me if you are interested in helping out.