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An Entry from the Archives

The TTI Vanguard conference I was at for the past two days is a configuration of elements I hadn't seen before. And it worked well.

You've got the guaranteed presence of celebrity technologists because the Advisory Board consists of genuine luminaries. And because it's a persistent body, their interactions had depth.

You've got carefully selected speakers almost all of whom combined domain expertise with presentation skills. (Leaving me out of it, of course.)

You've got a microphone in front of each and every person and a culture of interrupting speakers to ask questions. And if a speaker drifted off topic, or the audience wanted her/him to go somewhere the speaker didn't intend, the mics were like oars by which the audience could steer.

You've got an audience of about 100 people well-informed enough that baby-step introductions weren't necessary. The level of questions was high.

You've got no panels, plenty of break time, and excellent food.

It was a good mix of the formal and the informal, the prepared and the impromptu, the speaker-focused and the audience-focused. It worked.

Posted by D. Weinberger at September 25, 2003 09:34 AM