Re: Conferences other than COMMON

In my recent COMMON experience, there seems to be a trend to more and more
younger attendees. It seems as the old (and tired?) guard leaves the scene,
fresh new faces with energy and new passion for the platform are arriving.

COMMON from a session perspective has not lost anything with the old guard
running off. Certainly the loss of perspective and character of some
speakers is disappointing, particularly Don and Craig, but the depth of
sessions is still there. Even if you have issue with COMMON policy, there is
no denying it still has some fantastic technical speakers and more sessions
and topics than other conferences.

And some attrition has been good for COMMON. In fact, due to a recent public
announcement that a certain speaker had decided to stop attending, several
people told me they would now come back. It takes all perspectives to see
the world, and there are plenty of not so vocal people who are not jaded and
who are still interested in contributing. This forum does not see many of
their words, but it does not mean COMMON is missing anything.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Pluta"
Subject: Conferences other than COMMON
>
> Actually, I know quite a few of the speakers on the midrange conference
> circuit, and I don't know anyone who quit COMMON for purely monetary or
> employer reasons.  And there are lots of people who have stopped
> speaking at COMMON.
>
> For example, neither Phil Coulthard nor George Farr usually speak at
> COMMON, and it's not because they need the money, nor is it because of
> their employer.  In fact, from what I understand, Phil will be in San
> Antonio because he was specifically asked to do so by his employer.
>
> And other industry experts such as Denoncourt and Pelkie don't speak at
> COMMON anymore either.  Even Cozzi quit COMMON.  You might want to ask
> them why.
>
> Joe