I’m back from the O’reilly Graphing Social Patterns Conference 2008. Mohammad and I got back in town after an exhaustive drive. All along the drive back though I couldn’t help but think about the events of the last few days. As he and I went from session to session, I started looking around me, trying to soak in the atmosphere, enjoying being around the very people I read about. But a curious observation crawled into my head. All these peoples heads were down in their laptops, while there was a live session, for which they traveled, occurring in front of them. Maybe 10% of the audience of about 500 were listening intently to the live talks. This seemed odd to me, as this was happening live, wasn’t everyone interested in what was happening? It drew me to a few conclusions:

1. The audience began treating this live flesh and blood performance in front of them as Time Shiftable. Instead of focusing intently on the information being given out, we ended up taking the same stance on the event as people take on podcasts, we want to listen when we want and how we want. And even if we have flown or driven from far away to attend, we can still push the events information to a time when I am interested. This is definitely something I have not seen anywhere else.

2.  An entire group of people simultaneously relegated the conference into the category of background Youtube Video. This is different from Time Shiftable, as with a video or audio playing in the background, people roll in and out of paying attention when they want. Instead of choosing between being at a conference and not, the choice is to be INTO a conference or checking my email. To be INTO a conference or working on my design. Its a whole different dynamic when you have all your life to choose from as To Do options, vs. leaving and staying.

3. The focus has been changed from the Attendee to the Projector. No longer is someone who attends these events someone who is coming to learn and enjoy. The Attendee is simply an extension of the conference. Yes they will gain something along the way, but as we stated above, not much. What is important though is where that information is channeled. Some goes towards video, others audio, and the majority blog posts. This has changed the dynamic of the conference, as instead of specific detailed information given out, which is what people used to conference for, to one of very general information, for the masses. I found many of the sessions were at a very basic level and truly could have been kicked up a notch.

While this was my first Tech Conference, it was not my first conference overall. I was able to see a vastly stark difference between those in the New Media World and those in the Old. I am definitely going to have to keep my eye out some more for these differences as I continue to attend tech events.