It's Not an Unconference When The "Discussion Leaders" Are Pre-Selected

Gnomedex happens next month. I was excited to hear that it there would be no speakers, no sessions. It was starting to sound interesting: perhaps the attendees would decide what they wanted to talk about, discuss, and debate. I like conferences where the attendees are in charge, and the usual self-promoting (hey there's that phrase again) conference-circuit suspects aren't.

I was disappointed to learn that Gnomedex doesn't appear to actually be following this path at all. Instead, Chris Pirillo is hand-picking "discussion leaders." I mean, come on. You cannot say, "This year, there will be no speakers at Gnomedex" and then in the same paragraph then say, "We've begun to invite a select group of people to be discussion leaders - individuals who will stand on stage, present an idea or two, answer questions, and then generally lead the audience's discussion and participation."

"A select group of people to be discussion leaders?" Who will be up on stage, presenting ideas, answering questions and leading discussion?

Sure sounds like speakers to me.

R.I.P. Grant McLennan

I only discovered the Go-Betweens a few years ago and was very saddened to hear that Grant McLennan, one of the founders of the group, passed away yesterday.