A bit late, but I wanted to mention the Free! Summit conference I attended last week up in the Bay Area.
It was put on by SageScape, and it featured a lot of great speakers (Mike Masnick, Chris Anderson, etc.). Here’s a summary from techdirt.
In general, it was a great conference that touched on lots of things affecting the idea of “free” (i.e., using free services/products as part of a company’s marketing approach): the newspaper industry, the music industry (both the music and the merchandising around it), even a presentation bravely given by someone attempting to point out the downside to free (a tougher audience he could not have found).
But for all of the great things the conference managed to achieve, I fear that the people who could have benefited the most from it weren’t there. The companies that presented and the attendees who offered questions and comments at the open mic were already on board with the program. Where were the companies that are watching their business evaporate because they’re locked in a pre-digital, pre-Internet mindset? Where are the executives who can’t figure out what to next about piracy?
Perhaps the biggest challenge a conference of this type faces is trying to get those who are simultaneously the most reticent to attend and the most likely to benefit from attending to, well, attend.
Kudos to SageScape for keeping the conversation going.