So our experience with the conferences has been rather interesting especially when it comes to trying to raise some sponsorship funds. Apparently payola is a common practice in the conference business – a sponsor pays, a sponsor gets to speak. And we thought the whole conference business was a big scam already.
I suppose we were naive to think that conference organizers were curators of the best content available for the attendees. Turns out, that attendees are being charged a lot of money to listen to the speakers who pay the most sponsorship money.
Next time you plan to go to a conference, run a quick check to see how many of the companies who are sponsoring are also speaking.
We just wanted to state that PSFK is not going to engage in the practice. Saying that, we do have sponsors where their employees speak – but that’s because they like us and we like them.
Ticket anyone? http://psfklondon.eventbrite.com
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It’s not just conferences…next time you pick up a trade magazine, see how many “expert quotes” come from companies who advertise in the rag.
May 11th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Hi Piers — I’m in the middle of planning my first event with an event company. We did do the sponsor/speaker option in our sponsorships, and while I have been completely transparent about who is paying to speak on my blog, I don’t think I’d do it this way again. It’s just confusing. Some of my sponsor/speakers I would have asked anyway, and some maybe not, but I think they all add value as speakers meaning I wouldn’t put a sponsor/speaker on the agenda who didn’t. It has definitely been a learning experience.
May 11th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
We’ve found that sponsors are generally open to other ideas. Give them a table in the break area where they can demo something. Mention them briefly before the break. Give them 10 minutes at lunch. Or have a “quickfire session” where 3-4 sponsors speak one after the other in a “Sponsor Quickfire Session.” Attendees actually like this one because they can get the quick details without dealing with sales pressure. It also forces the sponsor to create some value vs. bullshitting about their product.
May 13th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Most conferences are a giant scam (Not PSFK ones!) I got invited to speak at one in Tokyo a few weeks ago. I asked them what they were paying… ZERO… I asked them if they were covering expenses… ZERO… The attendee fee was $5,000 per ticket… Cheeky Bastards. I told them to fuck themselves. Anyway, the odds are less than 10% of the people attending would have understood me. Most people here don’t have a clue what I’m on about.
Cheers/George
May 15th, 2007 at 11:19 pm