Conference panels – self-indulgent, elitist, and smug
I’ve been to too many conferences recently. FOWA in London, Web 2.0 in Berlin, and tonight I got back from Le Web in Paris.
Among various other dislikes, one thing I particularly don’t enjoy are the panels. I find panels very self-indulgent. Some small number of panelists sit on stage and have a conversation with each other, while the rest of us are supposed to sit there passively and lap it up. Then at the very end, the panelists take a question or two from the audience. Sometimes the questions are incoherent or require a bit of elaboration, and often the result is that the panelists end up being rude and dismissive. Most questions go unanswered simply due to lack of time.
That doesn’t feel right. I always wish the time balance were changed. And I wish I didn’t get the overwhelming feeling that the panelists are basking in their own glory, too busy for the common conference goer. It’s a pity, because I and I suppose many others, are genuinely interested in the individuals on the panels. But the format doesn’t work at all for me.
I could say much more, but that would probably get too specific.
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