›
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

The Most Poorly Named Convention in the World

MattMatt
edited March 2011 in Conventions
Geekend. What promises to be a weekend of geekery actually turns out to be a social media & marketing conference. I'm starting to think they just made a bet on how many times they could use the word geek: "Come get your geek on and unleash your inner geek." Sure, geek is a very broad term and you can be a geek about anything, but this event still sounds mighty lame.

Comments

  • AprecheApreche
    Geekend. What promises to be a weekend of geekery actually turns out to be a social media & marketing conference. I'm starting to think they just made a bet on how many times they could use the word geek: "Come get your geek on and unleash your inner geek." Sure, geek is a very broad term and you can be a geek about anything, but this event still sounds mighty lame.
    I've thought of using the name Geekend before. I guess I can forget about it now. But yeah, a lot of businessy conferences and such are doing everything they can to attract actual technology people. Our supply is way lower than demand, and CS enrollments are still going down AFAIK. The NYC Tech meetup is predominantly business people.
  • jtvhjtvh
    I remember staffing the info booth at an event that called itself Geek Pride, at the Boston Park Plaza in the late 90s. It turned out to have some of the trappings of geekery, like LAN gaming and Lego contests. But really it was about all the HR recruiting tables around the edges of the room. The internet investment bubble hadn't burst yet.

    The best part actually was when a sweet older couple came to me confused about what all this had to do with Greek pride.
  • RymRym
    But really it was about all the HR recruiting tables around the edges of the room. The internet investment bubble hadn't burst yet.
    I am avoiding "geek" or "technology" meetups and events more and more, as they're often just desperate people shoving business cards at me.
  • AprecheApreche
    But really it was about all the HR recruiting tables around the edges of the room. The internet investment bubble hadn't burst yet.
    I am avoiding "geek" or "technology" meetups and events more and more, as they're often just desperate people shoving business cards at me.
    Yeah, I only go to ones that have specific programming that is worthwhile and known beforehand.
  • MattMatt
    My line in the sand right now is "will there be German board games being played?" with only a few exceptions here or there.
  • RymRym
    edited March 2011
    Yeah, I only go to ones that have specific programming that is worthwhile and known beforehand.
    The worst part is that all of these events could trivially have real programming. But they don't bother. As such, they draw in the LCD tech geeks regularly and to little effect. There are obvious keywords that should signal to you the danger of attending something boring in irrelevent:

    "Social Media"
    "New Media"
    "Startup"
    "Bloggers"
    "Meetup"
    "Forum"
    "Afterparty"

    The more of those you see in the copy, the less worthwhile the event will likely be. At best, it will be a masturbatory celebration of the new media revolution, ignoring the technical underpinnings. At worst, it will be a room full of desperate job seekers and HR reps.

    You get the regulars. Geeky people with nothing better to do, so they show up for the free food and try to be techy and hip.

    Then you see the desperates. They're the wannabe entrepreneurs who want to either start a startup or get someone else on board with their startup. Most of them are actually just looking for any work at all, but are too passive to actually get it.

    At any given event, there will be the few people who actually made something showing it off, though often awkwardly and with little showmanship. They tend to only come to things when they're actually presenting something.



    TL;DR: Most "tech" or "geek" events without a specific focus are attended primarily by people with nothing better to do: everyone else is out actually pursuing their interests.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • jtvhjtvh
    But really it was about all the HR recruiting tables around the edges of the room. The internet investment bubble hadn't burst yet.
    I am avoiding "geek" or "technology" meetups and events more and more, as they're often just desperate people shoving business cards at me.
    Funny how a collapsed economy produces so many desperate people with business cards.

    I saw a lot of those types a couple weekends ago at Geek Girl Camp on Cape Cod. I don't regret going, though, because I got to sit behind the help desk and chat with women (mostly much older even than me) who needed help with things like Facebook privacy, converting studio-quality audio files to MP3, and figuring out what a podcast is. I knew what I was getting myself into, though . . . the word "Geek" in the name told me it wasn't actually going to be geeky at all. (Well, except the conversations among us help desk chicks, which ranged from gaming to queer teens to talking with young kids about 4chan in a reasonable manner.)
  • gomidoggomidog
    Meetup
    The Unity meetup is full of beer and Pizza, and us sharing some of our toolsets with Indie developers.
  • RymRym
    Meetup
    The Unity meetup is full of beer and Pizza, and us sharing some of our toolsets with Indie developers.
    They're dangerous keywords, not fatal keywords.

    A meetup about new social media bloggers might be awesome. But probably not. More keywords means more danger.
  • MattMatt
    But really it was about all the HR recruiting tables around the edges of the room. The internet investment bubble hadn't burst yet.
    I am avoiding "geek" or "technology" meetups and events more and more, as they're often just desperate people shoving business cards at me.
    Funny how a collapsed economy produces so many desperate people with business cards.

    I saw a lot of those types a couple weekends ago at Geek Girl Camp on Cape Cod. I don't regret going, though, because I got to sit behind the help desk and chat with women (mostly much older even than me) who needed help with things like Facebook privacy, converting studio-quality audio files to MP3, and figuring out what a podcast is. I knew what I was getting myself into, though . . . the word "Geek" in the name told me it wasn't actually going to be geeky at all. (Well, except the conversations among us help desk chicks, which ranged from gaming to queer teens to talking with young kids about 4chan in a reasonable manner.)
    Internet Week NY was a lot like this last year. Everyone wanted to chat about their big idea and it got old real fast. The only good thing about Internet Week was the awesome company offices walking tour. I learned that Meetup is one of the coolest internet companies to work for, and that unsurprisingly, Gawker really does keep their employees in a dungeon!
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    A forum meetup starring guest bloggers, hosted by a new social media startup, to be followed by an afterparty?
  • jtvhjtvh
    edited March 2011
    Somehow the word "afterparty" has never sat right with me. If the event runs all day, and the party in the evening, do we really need that modifier to let us know that the party is neither before or nor during the event?
    Post edited by jtvh on
  • lackofcheeselackofcheese
    It seems like a disclaimer of sorts - to call something an afterparty is to say that what happens there is not your responsibility.
  • jtvhjtvh
    I believe in this day and age, anything referred to publicly as an "afterparty" is by definition no such thing. The real afterparties aren't on any conference agenda, and the vendors aren't handing out invites. Not even if you let them swipe your conference badge.
Sign In or Register to comment.