You guys have started me thinking about different shades of geekiness. Now that's geeky :)

Sigh...I had a feeling that this would happen..

Robert. Did I say that you'll only meet people from San Jose, or whereever Blogher was unless you move it? No, and i can tell you why too. It would be a silly thing to say. However, if you hold it in SV, then you get two types of attendees. Local and those who feel that Blogher is worth flying to SV for. The local group (folks who won't travel more than a three hour drive for the conference) is rather dependent on location, and will remain relatively static as long as the conference stays in SV. That's just geography. The folks who will travel for a conference, any conference really, are going to be more static than you think. They're either going because it's interesting and it's not a huge deal to travel to SV, or they think it's interesting enough that travel isn't an issue either time or money - wise. The ones for whom travel isn't an issue are going to stay pretty static too. The ones for whom it's not a huge deal to travel to SV are a somewhat geographical group as well, for a variety of reasons. (Family in the area, they live a couple states over, etc.)

By changing the conference location when possible, you *radically* change the local attendees, (duh), and you also create more change in the "It's not a real big deal to travel to {location}" group. That "I'll go anywhere that {conference} is" won't care WHERE it is, they're going for the conference, and the conference alone, so again, they'll not change that much. So the fact that you met people who traveled to Blogher, while interesting and obvious, doesn't disprove the theory that moving the show will change the audience up, and not in a minor way. The attendee differences when you had Macworld NYC and Macworld SF shows this quite clearly.

On the "interesting city" thing. Um..dude...*Chicago*? *Dallas*? *Houston*? yeah. Like I said, the middle of the country has a thing or two. St. Louis would rather shock you with the amount of stuff to do there that's not all BBQ and Knuckle-draggin. Oh, and if you were to check one of those "map" things, (I hear MSN has one too), you'd see there's a Kansas City *Missouri*, which, in addition to being the one I live in, is where all the convention facilities are. Bartle's not as cool as the Moscone, but it's not a barn in a cow pasture either. Keeping you entertained for a week here would NOT be hard. Really. If nothing else, the music scene here is as good as you'll find in any city of the same size, and better than quite a few larger ones. Chicago even more so. Oh, and while there aren't a lot of COMPUTER conferences in the Midwest, that's the only place they lack. I have to say, the coolest conference I ever saw was a surprisingly large Welding show at the McCormack center in Chicago. A show all about FIRE. MUCH cooler than any computer show. It was packed too, and the McCormack center is NOT small. Maybe you should do a little research on cities before you talk smack about them.

Finally, you seemed to have missed that I was saying the word "Geek" depends on who's saying it. To my future in-laws? You're El Geeko Magnifico. To the crowd I run with? You're that guy at Best Buy. To folks like Amit Singh, Dominic Giampolo, and Dave Cutler? *I'M* that guy at Best Buy. A geek is not a geek is not a geek.

Thanks John! I am a Mac user now and so I think there is a good chance our whole family will be there :) Looking forward to meeting you as well.

Coolness

It's not that you should STOP doing the sessions that are well-attended and that people like, but just don't look at that and think, "wow, we have the perfect forumula". I know that the folks who plan the sessions at Macworld Expo are *always* on the lookout for new sessions and speakers, because it makes the show worth going to. Their requirements boil down to:

1) Was the session proposal well-written
2) Does it relate to the Mac
3) If a new speaker, how do they do in the phone interview

They will, and have said no to people, but if they make all three conditions, they get at least one shot at it. It's a great way of avoiding stagnation. They do a ton of work with new speakers, and really take the evaluation forms seriously. It's a kickin' support system, (and the food in the speaker's lounge *rocks*).

If you get a chance to go to Macworld in January, (Since you're living and working MUCH closer), let me know, and I'll introduce you to the folks that do the session planning for that.

John,

I love your ideas. I am a conference planner and always like to hear great ideas for sessions. Thanks!

I'd have been shocked if Winer *hadn't* been at a conference about blogging. It's his current professional raison d'etre. But I see the same things at EVERY conference on blogging.

How to set up a blog
How to personalize a blog
How to monetize a blog
How to jack a blog's hitcount
How to get your blog noticed
How to deal with "teh meen peopul"
How to decide how personal to get
How to filet a panda

There's never anything like a serious discussion on IMPLEMENTING blogs. How about a session with different reps from ISPs on a panel about which blog system they prefer. (I know a few that *hate* all things six apart, mostly because they were just pricks about anyone but their "annointed" providers helping people set up MT. They burned a lot of bridges there) A session dealing with the mechanics of posting that helps folks navigate the morass of APIs and what all that actually means. A session on dealing with securing your blog, and why those silly PHP and other security alerts DO apply to you.

You don't need sessions on X86 assembly, but there's a LOT of sessions that would still apply to blogs, yet be more in depth and provide good information that you don't see as often.

John,
I saw a few respected geeks such as Dave Winer and Mary Hoder who came to the conference and said that they learned from it. If you want a C++ under the hood, or an advanced session on compilers then Blogher is not a conference for you and I don't believe it needs to be. As the conference matures, I am sure more technical sessions will be added. I am not saying Blogher was perfect, but it was a pretty great one. I am sorry you missed it.

That would be cool. One tip. Take Robert to Moto in Chicago. Why? A partial list of some of their cooking implements:

Liquid Nitrogen
Liquid Helium
Ion Particle Guns
Portable polymer table-top ovens

They're working on getting a laser in there.

The other thing Blogher needs to think about are some more hardcore tech sessions. I know a few geek women who'd rather stick a fork in their eye than go to what one described as "A weekend of mommytalk and women's issues disguised as a geek show". Barfing noises followed.

I looked at the sessions, but since I'm not marketing to anyone, much less marketing to women, I wasn't sure why i'd want to go. Just being in a room full of gorgeous women, while always a good thing, isn't a justification for a conference.

Looking at the sessions...Day one, workshop 1: Nah, nothing. I hate HTML, (my site shows it too), and I hate the lockstep designs of most blogs. 4" wide text columns surrounded by dancing baloney make the baby jesus cry.

Lunch on day 1: No one wants the child of a MGB race car driver to "test drive" a Saturn Sky. Really.

Workshop 2: Audience building...maaaaaybe. But i'm not really trying to use my site as much more than either an outlet, or a way to add things into the great Google Tech Support Database. I'm still amazed that more than ten people read the silly thing. I still don't know why.

Workshop 3: Nope. Nothing I don't already know, nothing I care about. The last thing i want is to "monetize" my blog. I already HAVE a job. The day my site becomes a job, I shut it down.

The poolside party would be cool, but that's not a reason to go to a conference.

Day 2:
The Yoga could be fun. Kickboxing would be MORE fun, but then, I've been doing the martial arts thing for over a decade, I'm biased.

Opening Discussion: Not with a gun at my head nor money in my hand. I just don't buy into the "blog" hype. All they do is facilitate communication. The communication is interesting, blogs are not.

Blog Crushes: There is no reality wherein Blogher would want to advertise on my blog, at least none that I could imagine. Considering how lazy I am about checking my supposed ad revenue, they'd make a quarter here and there off it.

Session 1: MommyBlogging is about as radical as talking about your kids and being a parent anywhere else. Not.At.All. I read a few of the better ones. I'm waiting on the radical. You know what's radical? ChildFree blogging. People who don't want kids talking about the continual dismissal of that choice by the world at large. That would be FAR more radical. "Identity and Obligation" could be interesting, depending on how open they were to the idea that being a (sex) blogger making you a "representative" of (sex) is just as stupid as expecting famous people to be role models for your kids. The only thing a blogger is representing is themselves, occaisionally their company. Anyone deciding I'm a role model needs help, badly. Anyone deciding I'm a male role model based on a genetic change in the womb by specific hormone levels at specific times is not thinking clearly.

Session: 2: Absolutely nothing of interest to a geek. The session on talking about sex would be fascinating though, just to see the viewpoints.

Session 3: Geek Quotient: i

Closing Keynote: Maybe, unless it turns into a confessional. Then it's run, run, run for the door.

Cocktail party: Booze is ALWAYS good, but again, why should I go for that?

From a geek pov, even trying real hard to not be any more male about it as possible, there's not much there at all. The problem is of course that MY definition of geek is probably real different than most folks. In the world I work and live in, Robert's not a geek. He's at best, a dilletante/power user with tech fanboy tendencies. If you want my idea of a Female Geek:

Dori Smith, http://www.backupbrain.com

Andrina Kelly, bio at: http://www.macworldexpo.com/live/20/events/20SFO06A/conference/bio//CMONYA00BEI6

and quite a few others who are doing the same work I am, (and in Andrina's case, i wish I was as good as she is. Damn, that woman's Bartosh-Smart). I can maybe talk to Dori about Javascript and CSS for five minutes before I turn into the web design moron I am.

So the issue is, what does Blogher have for THAT level of geek, who may be female, but is most definitely not disrespected for ANY reason by her male cohorts?

As of 2006, not a lot.

John,

I hear they are planning for Chicago next year so hang in there!

Alfred,

I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you sometime soon!

Would it KILL some of the smaller conferences to consider places that aren't Cali? I understand that even in the middle of the country, they gots that Intarweb thingy, and some right fast connections. Why in places like Chicago, Kansas City, Austing, Dallas, we even gots hotels, and restaurants, and all that other big-city stuff.

Seriously, while the big conferences are more limited in where they can be, things like Blogher, Gnomedex, etc., are small enough that they can be anywhere, and quite honestly, as long as they all stay in Cali, you're going to get the exact same audience, because you're going to miss out on people who don't have the budget to travel to Cali for yet another conference.

I think that cities like Chicago, Dallas, Austin, even smaller ones like KC and St. Louis are capable of hosting an event like Blogher, and it would mix up the audience a bit.

kr8tr,
This conference is definitely worth flying over to cali. It's sold out this time, but you should keep it in mind for next year :)