Once more unto the breach, dear friends....
May 17, 2011
Friend Steve Burlew over at Banner of Truth has brought this this post on conferences to my attention.
The points are good, well-made and welcome but I do have one small reservation: every megaconference celebrity to whom I have spoken has played a variation on the same basic theme -- the speakers cannot help the celebrity culture that grows up around them and is thrust upon them without their consent; thus, the problem is really the fault of the audience; but, as the good results outweigh the bad, there is no reason not to continue business as usual.
Is that really the case? Is the matter as clear cut as that? Is there no `supply side' responsibility here? One can stretch an analogy too far, but the pornography and addiction reference in the post above would surely hint at precisely the need for some self-reflection on the responsibility of the supplier or producer. As one friend put it to me last week, it would not seem to require a degree in rocket science or brain surgery to avoid becoming a megaconference celeb speaker who speaks at half a dozen megaconferences. So is there really nothing that the speakers and organisers can do to stop or inhibit such a culture? Just saying "no" once in a while, perhaps?
The generic response of placing primary blame on the audience reminds me of those Bowery Boys movies that were old and out-of-date even when I was young: "It wasn't me, officer, it was them other other fellers what done that crime you are accusing me of.... Yeah, that's right, boys, you know don't you, yeah -- it was them other fellas what done it all along and we were somewhere else entirely."
Yeah, that's right.
The points are good, well-made and welcome but I do have one small reservation: every megaconference celebrity to whom I have spoken has played a variation on the same basic theme -- the speakers cannot help the celebrity culture that grows up around them and is thrust upon them without their consent; thus, the problem is really the fault of the audience; but, as the good results outweigh the bad, there is no reason not to continue business as usual.
Is that really the case? Is the matter as clear cut as that? Is there no `supply side' responsibility here? One can stretch an analogy too far, but the pornography and addiction reference in the post above would surely hint at precisely the need for some self-reflection on the responsibility of the supplier or producer. As one friend put it to me last week, it would not seem to require a degree in rocket science or brain surgery to avoid becoming a megaconference celeb speaker who speaks at half a dozen megaconferences. So is there really nothing that the speakers and organisers can do to stop or inhibit such a culture? Just saying "no" once in a while, perhaps?
The generic response of placing primary blame on the audience reminds me of those Bowery Boys movies that were old and out-of-date even when I was young: "It wasn't me, officer, it was them other other fellers what done that crime you are accusing me of.... Yeah, that's right, boys, you know don't you, yeah -- it was them other fellas what done it all along and we were somewhere else entirely."
Yeah, that's right.
